We at the National Steel Bridge Alliance would like to take issue that steel is a key factor in bizarre bidding on San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge suspension span, as reported in Way-High Single Bid Stymies State Officials (ENR 6/7 p. 10).
Lets assume that the bridge uses all domestic steel and that the price increase for steel since the beginning of the year is 60%. The price of steel plate today averages about 43¢ a pound. A 60% increase means that the price of steel rose 16¢ per pound since the beginning of the year.