California’s Golden Gate Bridge needs repairs. But Biden administration may not help
The Biden administration has been boasting for months about how its multi-billion bridge repair program would help create jobs and make travel safer.
Looks like they didn’t think hard about helping the Golden Gate Bridge.
“This bridge, and others like it, are disadvantaged when applying for funding under the Bridge Investment Program, because its main threat comes from earthquakes rather than other types of disasters or structural risk,” wrote Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., told Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg this week in a letter.
The Golden Gate Bridge, an historical landmark opened to pedestrians May 27, 1937 and to auto traffic the next day, connects San Francisco to Marin County.
Bridge officials are seeking $870 million from state and federal sources to complete the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project.
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which manages the bridge, considers the project too costly to fund just through tolls.
Bridge officials are concerned that the law governing the awards could leave them out.
Golden Gate Bridge’s future
The plan is the last phase of the retrofit and strengthening of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Included would be strengthening the 4,200 foot-long main span, two 1,125 foot-long side spans, the two 746 foot-tall towers, the south tower pier of the suspension bridge and two under-crossing structures at the bridge toll plaza.
Other bridge areas considered more vulnerable have been retrofitted and hardened. They include the north and south approach viaducts, north and south anchorage housing and the Fort Point Arch.
The aim of the projects is to withstand severe damage from an earthquake or possible terrorist attack.
The funding the senators reference would be part of the White House’s infrastructure program, which became law with bipartisan support earlier this year.
California is due to receive $2.8 billion for the next five years from the federal legislation for its bridge projects.
The bill says “eligible project’ means a project to replace, rehabilitate, preserve, or protect one or more bridges.” Also eligible are projects “to replace or rehabilitate culverts for the purpose of improving flood control and improved habitat connectivity for aquatic species.
The senators maintain that bridge officials have designed a project “in strict accordance with applicable design specifications so that it may withstand a ‘maximum credible event,’ including a catastrophic earthquake, which available science unfortunately assesses is overdue.”
But they noted that the federal guidelines don’t account for the rare earthquake event “because seismic events are rare in any single year despite their destructive nature and likelihood over several years.”
The Department of Transportation press office told The Sacramento Bee it does not respond to letters via the media but will respond to the senators.
Of the 25,737 bridges in California, 1,493 are regarded as structurally deficient, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The six most heavily traveled bridges in that category are all in the Los Angeles area.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)