The California Department of Transportation is planning another Bay Bridge closure, most likely early next year, to readdress the structure’s problematic cracked eyebar, a spokesman said today.
Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said the entire span will have to be shut down again but that the duration and timing of the closure will depend on the nature of this next repair.
“We have a design crew working on another repair, one that will take less maintenance than the one we have,” he said.
There are many options on the drawing board, and Ney said, “We want to narrow it down to the perfect thing.”
A closure over the Christmas holiday is highly unlikely but not impossible, he said. He said the repairs will likely be made after New Year’s.
The cracked eyebar was discovered during the bridge’s Labor Day weekend closure, which Caltrans had planned as part of its ongoing project to construct a new eastern span. The closure was extended slightly as crews worked to repair the problem.
On Oct. 27, vibrations caused in part by high winds compromised the repair, and two tie rods and a crossbar weighing several thousand pounds came crashing down onto the upper deck.
Caltrans shut down the bridge for nearly a week before declaring the span safe.
