Dive Brief:
- An oversight committee voted to to withhold $8 million from the American Bridge/Fluor contracting joint venture to help cover the cost of a $24 million retrofit that was required after 32 rods snapped on the Bay Bridge's eastern span seismic stabilizers in September 2013, delaying the opening of the new span. The panel also penalized the contractor $3 million for failing to keep anchor rods from flooding.
- The total amount needed to rectify issues could cost an additional $25 million more than the $4.3 million originally laid out in the $1.8 billion contract.
- The three-person committee also said it expected to lodge an $8 million claim against designers T.Y. Lin and Moffatt & Nichol for the issues with the eastern span's anchor rods.
Dive Insight:
"We need to have a day of reckoning, and that is today," said Steve Heminger, chairman of the oversight panel.
The chief engineer for the project said issues with the rods being exposed to saltwater are the result of poor grout work, but that the bridge is structurally sound.
American Bridge/Fluor representatives have previously said they will assist California transportation officials with fixing the rods problem.
Despite the penalty placed on the contractor, officials still have to figure out how to pay for the $8 million needed for the retrofit and for the $15 million-$25 million still needed to keep the rods from flooding. Area residents fear the transit authority will gather the money through a toll rate hike, but officials have said they do not plan to raise Bay Area bridge toll costs.
Contracting giant Fluor is the largest construction and engineering company on the Fortune 500 list, with 2014 revenue at $21.5 billion.
American Bridge Company has helped construct some of the most famous bridges and buildings in the world, including the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York — which is currently under construction — as well as the Willis Tower in Chicago.
