Carquinez Bridge demolition costs soar (SF Bay Area)

SF Gate/San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Thursday, December 9, 2004 | Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

[Simmy2.5]

Demolition of the old Carquinez Bridge will cost more than three times as much as the state estimated, the latest example of a huge Caltrans cost overrun on a Bay Area bridge project.

A committee of the Bay Area Toll Authority reluctantly agreed Wednesday to allot $49.7 million for the demolition and removal of the original span of the bridge, a job that state engineers had said would cost $16 million. The 1927-vintage span, considered too fragile for seismic strengthening, was replaced in November 2003 by the Al Zampa Bridge.

[Simmy2.5]

We can't even destroy a bridge without paying more!

[goldstategop]

Welcome to the wacky liberal Bay Area. Its expensive to demolish a bridge as well as live in San Francisco.

[B4Ranch]

Is the steel going to China?

[sourcery]

The Bay Area is too big for its bridges...

[goldstategop]

This and Boston's Big Dig are monuments to liberal prolifgancy run amok.

[SpaceBar]

Two snippits from the article...

...covered in lead paint...

...an environmentally sensitive area...

Moral: if you read the article carefully, what could have been an otherwise relatively straightforward municipal demolition project turned into a fiscal nightmare because cost projections failed to account for the costs of rampant, out of control environonmentalism that has all domestic commerce and urban development by the legal short and curlies.

[monkeyshine]

So just leave it there. We can enjoy looking at it as a relic of our past as part of the human spirit, mother nature will take care of the rest.

[goldstategop]

So what are liberals complaining about? Sheesh, this comes with the territory.

[goldstategop]

It would be fine with liberals if San Francisco could be transformed into a park.

[HolgerDansk]

It would be fine with liberals if San Francisco could be transformed into a park.

Not a park. More like a Zoo. Don't forget the fence!

[Hank Rearden]

I used to live there a lifetime ago. What the hell is an Al Zampa?

[Hank Rearden]

Wait . . . . . is it like an Al Jazeera?

[Simmy2.5]

lol!

Al Zampa was a construction worker who worked on the major bridges (Carquinez Bridges [both of the old ones] as well as the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge). The new suspension bridge was dedicated to him. Here's a pic of it.

[Simmy2.5]

While it was still under construction I might add. Looks nice, and simple (I'm sure that helped keep the cost down).

[Hank Rearden]

New bridge looks better than the old one, but I see they still haven't cleaned up the neighborhood any.

[The KG9 Kid]

When crossing over the bridge towards the toll booth, does anyone know what that magnificent ship is docked down below to the left? It's not seen in the above photo.

It looks like some fantastic oceanographic research ship, and as far as I can tell it's not a US Coast Guard station. I've never had a long look at it, but I've always wondered what it is and who it belongs to.

[CaliforniaScreaming]

That ship is the "Golden Bear". It is docked at the California Maritime Academy, where it is used as a training vessel.

[newzjunkey]

[newzjunkey]

We're not even in the same arena as that billion dollar financial black hole known as the Big Dig. Now *that* was true insanity. This is more like Ted Kennedy on a bender where he *can't* find his car keys..