Outsiders to test Bay Bridge welds

Contra Costa Times ^ | 4/20/5 | Mike Adamick

[SmithL]

Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration hired independent welding inspectors Monday to examine claims of shoddy and unsafe work on the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge.

Mike Mayes, president of Mayes Testing Engineers of Everett, Wash., and metals consultant Roy Teal of Albany, N.Y., visited the site Tuesday for "confined space training" to access welding locations deep inside bridge foundations.

The two, along with state and federal inspectors, were scheduled to examine some welds to determine what resources would be needed for a more thorough review, according to Caltrans.

The state Department of Transportation has declined to offer a timeline or costs for the tests, which are being paid for by the Federal Highway Administration. Officials there did not immediately return phone calls.

The FBI confirmed earlier this month it is investigating claims that welders were forced by the contractor, a joint venture known as KFM, to conceal faulty welds to speed up construction.

Preliminary tests of some welds by Caltrans showed the welds were structurally sound, but the department wanted to bring in an independent, third-party inspector.

[SmithL]

Of course they need an outsider. The cement is much too hard to get an insider to check it.

Duh!

[ProudVet77]

Hire the guys that inspected the welds on the USS San Francisco. They surely know their stuff.

[rellimpank]

"confined space training"---I'm afraid to ask---

[tet68]

First they have to be miniturized and then injected
into a weldors butt.

I saw a movie about it one time, Randy Quaid played the
welding inspector.