The fiasco that is the Oakland Bay Bridge Span just keeps on getting better.

[DucatiMonster696]

After coming in billions over budget, and a decade or so late the new bridge span is proving to be worse than the section it originally replaced. LOL!

It has been plagued with so many issues that now its seismic viability is being questioned and it just might end up being less seismically fit to withstand a major earthquake then the previous span it replaced.

"Plague of problems puts Bay Bridge seismic safety in question"

Californians spent $6.4 billion to replace the old Bay Bridge eastern span because it was unlikely to survive a major earthquake. Now, mounting revelations of construction problems are calling into question whether the new bridge can withstand the Big One..

Click on the link to continue reading.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Plague-of-problems-puts-Bay-Bridge-seismic-safety-6253577.php

Of note the older span needed retrofitting but apparently political forces wanted it completely replaced because it was "ugly" and people trotted out the fallacy of infrastructure spending being the end all, and be all of government spending.

So here we are with a bridge span that was over budget by BILLIONS of dollars and came in a decade late and which is today basically a defective piece of infrastructure. Meanwhile the destruction of the old span it replaced is continuing. I wonder however if they (Caltrans and local leaders) are having second thoughts? Hmmm...its probably too late to rebuild the old span to replace the disaster that is this "NEW AND IMPROVED" bridge span.

 

[rudeguy]

I feel so bad for you guys out there. No one deserves that.

 

[cabri]

When politics gets involved in CA; everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

When politics gets involved in CA; everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

Sadly CA politics is very much like Mordor politics, i.e. "One party to rule them all" style of politics because the vast number of CA voters are people who want everything provided to them at the expense of someone else.

 

[theeedude]

Good enough for now. We can fix it next time there is a recession and we need to create infrastructure construction jobs.

 

[OverVolt]

Its like someone fat fingered their mouse in sim city and it doesn't even go straight.

 

[cabri]

Good enough for now. We can fix it next time there is a recession and we need to create infrastructure construction jobs.

Remember when the bridges went down due to an earthquake.

Is there a justifiable need to wait for a recession?

Economics is not paid attention by Mother Nature.

And will there be another round of handouts for CA if all they do is waste money then ask for assistance

 

[chowderhead]

good thing that 15 months after opening the bridge (back in Dec. 2014), Caltrans still had 170 engineers, consultants and support staff "working" full time on the bridge "because they got nowhere else to go." 44 million dollars per year from your tolls going to this group because they didn't plan on them having more work after the bridge was finished and they have no where else to go.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matie...Bridge-span-is-done-but-170-still-5954501.php

Onward to the high speed train to nowhere!

 

[theeedude]

Remember when the bridges went down due to an earthquake.

Is there a justifiable need to wait for a recession?

Economics is not paid attention by Mother Nature.

And will there be another round of handouts for CA if all they do is waste money then ask for assistance

If it goes down, then we can repair it too. It's fine to use now. CA is a donor state, so it is assisting other states every day. Y'all welcome.

 

[LegendKiller]

Gotta love that great China manufacturing. All because they wanted a prettier bridge.

 

[DCal430]

What is horrible is the main contract company who built the bridge went over a Billion dollars over budget on the last bridge in California, and over 5 years over schedule. They have a very poor record, but the give money to the right people so they get contracts.

 

[DCal430]

Gotta love that great China manufacturing. All because they wanted a prettier bridge.

The biggest problem isn't with China, it is with the U.S company who outsourced to China. This company has a history of problems. But they are politically connected so their problems are ignored. They had other construction and bridge projects in California, nearly all billion+ over budget and delays by many years. Even though nearly all of their work is over budget and delayed filled, the state seems to love giving them new projects.

 

[Vic]

Gotta love that great China manufacturing. All because they wanted a prettier bridge.

Well.. that and one that won't fall in the next earthquake like the old bridge did in the last earthquake.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

Good enough for now. We can fix it next time there is a recession and we need to create infrastructure construction jobs.

You might as well advocate that we go around smashing windows and call it "infrastructure spending" that "creates jobs" when you hire people to replace those windows.

In other words you are trotting out the fallacy of the "Broken Window" theory to support the misallocation of resources in society through wasteful and inefficient spending by government that takes money out of taxpayers wallets which could've been better spent elsewhere in society in order to justify government bloat and growth.

 

[LegendKiller]

Well.. that and one that won't fall in the next earthquake like the old bridge did in the last earthquake.

I seem to remember that one of the justifications for building in China was that they could add features (non-safety ones) for the same cost as the non-featured, but USA built, one. Such as making it prettier and more elegant.

 

[theeedude]

You might as well advocate that we go around smashing windows and call it "infrastructure spending" that "creates jobs" when you hire people to replace those windows.

In other words you are trotting out the fallacy of the "Broken Window" theory to support the misallocation of resources in society through wasteful and inefficient spending by government that takes money out of taxpayers wallets which could've been better spent elsewhere in society in order to justify government bloat and growth.

There is no shortage of money to be spent elsewhere. The new bridge is an improvement over the old one, so it's a better allocation of resources than construction workers sitting idle and money doing nothing or bidding up asset prices on Wall St, which is what it would have been doing instead.

 

[tynopik]

Because nearly all of their work is over budget and delayed filled, the state seems to love giving them new projects.

FTFY

Bigger budgets = bigger kickback

If everything was done on time and on-budget, there wouldn't be much room for graft, big no-no.

 

[theeedude]

Republicans, any other economic advise for us here in California? Coming from economic success stories like Kansas, you must have so much to share. Don't hold back!

 

[Vic]

I seem to remember that one of the justifications for building in China was that they could add features (non-safety ones) for the same cost as the non-featured, but USA built, one. Such as making it prettier and more elegant.

While I agree that the entire bridge should have been built in the US if the cost was going to be similar, I also believe that San Francisco is the poster child for cities that have benefited from paying a little extra for a 'pretty' bridge.

 

[OutHouse]

Good enough for now. We can fix it next time there is a recession and we need to create infrastructure construction jobs.

it was made in china dude.

 

[theeedude]

it was made in china dude.

So?

 

[OutHouse]

There is no shortage of money to be spent elsewhere. The new bridge is an improvement over the old one, so it's a better allocation of resources than construction workers sitting idle and money doing nothing or bidding up asset prices on Wall St, which is what it would have been doing instead.

wtf are you on drugs? where do you get this shit.

the link flat out says the new bridge is worse that the old one, but not according to your warped sense of reality, you say its better. well prove it.

 

[Greenman]

On opening day I predicted the bridge would end up coming down, I stand by that prediction. That thing is a monument to stupidity, inept management, government waste, and public apathy. It's an embarrassment to the State.

 

[Greenman]

wtf are you on drugs? where do you get this shit.

the link flat out says the new bridge is worse that the old one, but not according to your warped sense of reality, you say its better. well prove it.

He thinks it's better because it represents government spending, and seems to believe that all infrastructure spending is a great idea.

 

[Zorkorist]

Republicans, any other economic advise for us here in California? Coming from economic success stories like Kansas, you must have so much to share. Don't hold back!

LOL. How proud could one be for being part of the Nation's 18 Trillion Dollar debt!?

-John