@ekai via @case points us to this extensive engineer’s analysis of the Bay Bridge’s woes. Do I feel compelled to read the whole damn thing? Not exactly. What I did do was scan for the juicy bits and offer them up here.
That image above is the best quality photo around of the original crack they found back on Labor Day that led to the “fix” which of course FAILed and came crashing down on drivers the other day and closed the bridge.
This engineer thinks the fix was a “kludge” (awesome word), i.e., it was under designed. But he also thinks we can possibly blame the Cal Trans guy who did the welding.
The good news is he thinks the original design of the bridge is pretty darn solid, which should make you feel good if you ever get to use it again.
