Opening of Quake-Damaged Roads Delayed
SAN FRANCISCO — Two quake-damaged freeways that were scheduled to reopen this fall will not be ready for traffic for at least six more months, Caltrans officials said Wednesday.
Caltrans Director Robert K. Best said there was no possibility the Central and Interstate 280 freeways--elevated roadways that carry 250,000 vehicles a day--could be reopened in October as promised only two weeks ago.
The problem, he said, is that the work--expected to safely survive a magnitude 8.2 earthquake--”has never been attempted anywhere in the world.” Best said design and construction revisions were being done on the two roadways.
The Oct. 17 quake measured magnitude 7.1, killed 67 people and caused $7 billion in damage.
Asked why Caltrans started the original work before all engineering reviews were in, Best said: “We did that to try to expedite the reopenings. . . . We were taking a gamble to get these facilities opened a few months earlier than if we had waited.”
The need for revised plans resulted after private panel of engineers found “significantly more construction work” was needed to cope with disaster-type stresses on the supports and joints of the elevated structures.
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