Salesforce Transit Center Repairs Underway
February 4, 2019
As we first reported last year, the cracked Salesforce Transit Center wasn’t going to reopen in 2018 and we were projecting it would likely remain closed “through the first, if not second, quarter of 2019 as well.”
With a fix for the transit center’s fractured beams having since been identified, peer reviewed and adopted, the repair work is now formally underway.
And while an official reopening date for the center has yet to be set, if all goes as planned and no other flaws are found, the repairs are currently slated to be completed “by the first week of June,” which puts our projections right on track and shouldn’t catch any plugged-in readers by surprise.
Comments from Plugged-In Readers
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Would it be worth asking if the Transbay Authority is also working concurrently on a fix for the crumbling pathways in the park? Or are they planning to work on that fix at a later date that will result in more closures?
What a joke. San Francisco, the jewel in the crown of the SF Bay Area, the leader of Tech, can’t get something done correct despite spending all this money. Outsource it to people who know what they are doing.
It was outsourced. Certainly the welder who caused the problem was not a city employee.
I don’t think that there’s been a full postmortem to find out how the defective work was approved, but I’d expect the finger to point towards lack of oversight on change orders.
Depending on how the project was structured, the senior engineers who were on the line to approve construction changes would be either with the lead contractor (outsourced) or the city’s engineer. If it was the latter then you can blame the city.
Well if I remember correctly the preliminary analysis showed the existing beam had been welded and then thermally cut. This is the beam that failed. The other identical beam was thermally cut and then welded and did not fail, since it was assembled after the change order had been made. Yes there should have been protocols to grind the cut so it doesn’t have any stress points but calling it defective I think is a little bit of a stretch.
And the TBJPTA isn’t a city dept anyway (hint: that’s what “joint” is all about). Geesh. some people think for a few bil you’re going to get perfection, or somethin’…
I would say it is far from correct even without this issue because I can’t take a train to the station and there is a stop 10 minute walk from my house
Right, construction defects never happen on new buildings, this is a first.
Any word on whether the park will reopen earlier?
The rooftop park isn’t expected to reopen prior to the center as a whole.
And keep in mind, while a fix for the known problems is underway, an independent Peer Review Panel is currently reviewing “thousands of building-wide shop drawings, inspection reports, and design documents” to determine if any other inspections, or fixes, will be necessary before the center reopens. We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
I bet if it were a freeway it would open a lot sooner. There seems to be no sense of urgency when it comes to mass transit.
They need to fire that trans bay oversight board and get someone on there who has mass transit experience and actually uses it. They have screwed up this project from start to finish.
This has nothing to do with mass transit, but construction of a building.
It sounds as though a single individual, out of an overabundance of caution, made the decision to order that holes be cut for welding inspections which compromised the metal resulting in the cracking.
You mean like the Bay Bridge, which only took a quarter century to replace?
The TJPA board is a mix of elected officials and political appointees. Also, the longtime executive director was a political appointee of Willie Brown. Next time there’s a big project, tell your elected officials to put more construction engineers on the board.
good point, when the mcarthur freeway interchange blew up a few years ago after a fuel truck explosion, the entire interchange was rebuilt within a few days. in a year, maybe? the transit center will be repaired and back in operation
Looks like Newsome is pulling the plug on the high speed rail project. Whatever miniscule chance there was of hsr coming to the Transbay terminal just got even smaller.
Yep. Let’s make that ETA for this becoming more than the world’s poshest bus turnaround the FOURTEENTH of Never
Looks like he is committing to the Central Valley portion of the project being completed between Bakersfield and Madera but not the entire project to SF, Sacramento, LA, San Diego. Thinks it will aid development out there. Another governor (when Newsom runs for President?) can add on sections. This is the way the Interstate Highway System was started in the mid 1950’s – in the midwest. The original portion funded by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 took 35 years to complete.
UPDATE: Early Re-Activation Sequence for the Salesforce Transit Center