Yes. Slow but sure it is disappearing.I take pics every other time or so that I cross. I was kind of curious how they would disassemble it. It's logical, and so interesting because of that.
I drove over it the last day the old bridge was in use and took a couple of pictures.
Somehow, the new bridge does not have as good of a traffic flow as the old one did, and I often encounter heavy slow traffic going into the city, even during what used to be the late morning period of least traffic @ 11:30 or so. Going out of the city seems OK though, which I usually do after having delivered something at about 2PM.
I suppose they are sending all the steel to China to make things that we will buy. So, we've bought the steel twice. Once for when they made the bridge in the 1930's, and again for the crummy products imported from China now. What a racket the capitalist system is.
It's interesting watching the deconstruction of the old bridge, and how rapidly and logically it is progressing. The new bridge seems not to be as efficient somehow and rush hour seems to last longer. They must not have the approaches correct yet. Some lanes are for people paying cash, and other lanes are for those who have a prepaid scan device that lets them (me) drive through the gates without stopping, but the gates are always clogged nonetheless, worse now, than before the new bridge opened.
The new structure is very modern and took over twenty years to design and execute (the old bridge took three years during the depths of the Great Depression). Some of the protocols were waived during the construction to speed up the delays that plagued the work, and now there are arguments about the quality of the work, and parts that were not up to spec from China. There is talk that welds were done improperly, then buried in concrete, and the checks were improperly done or not done at all, and that cracks in the new poured concrete were ignored, and that the concrete itself was not the proper mix.
It is claimed that the maintenance money is almost all used up dealing with unforeseen problems and construction shortcuts, and the new bridge may cost additional billions beyond the money generated by tolls that were supposed to be enough to keep it maintained.
The old structure had to be replaced because of earthquake vulnerabilities realized in 1989. The cantilever section now being torn down was never sunk down to the bedrock, but constructed onto gigantic redwood pilings that were driven into the bay mud. The pilings are still A-OK, but it was thought that they were an unsafe construction technique and this half of the bridge had to be replaced. Maybe some time should have been left before demolition to see what surprises and disappointments the new bridge would present. Somehow, the whole project, as gleaming white and impressive as it is, stinks of fraud, criminality, and corruption. China's reputation for honesty and quality, and super complexities rather than tried and true: what were our people thinking beyond lining their own pockets?
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-07 03:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-07 05:16 am (UTC)I drove over it the last day the old bridge was in use and took a couple of pictures.
Somehow, the new bridge does not have as good of a traffic flow as the old one did, and I often encounter heavy slow traffic going into the city, even during what used to be the late morning period of least traffic @ 11:30 or so. Going out of the city seems OK though, which I usually do after having delivered something at about 2PM.
I suppose they are sending all the steel to China to make things that we will buy. So, we've bought the steel twice. Once for when they made the bridge in the 1930's, and again for the crummy products imported from China now. What a racket the capitalist system is.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-08 11:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-08 03:34 pm (UTC)The new structure is very modern and took over twenty years to design and execute (the old bridge took three years during the depths of the Great Depression). Some of the protocols were waived during the construction to speed up the delays that plagued the work, and now there are arguments about the quality of the work, and parts that were not up to spec from China. There is talk that welds were done improperly, then buried in concrete, and the checks were improperly done or not done at all, and that cracks in the new poured concrete were ignored, and that the concrete itself was not the proper mix.
It is claimed that the maintenance money is almost all used up dealing with unforeseen problems and construction shortcuts, and the new bridge may cost additional billions beyond the money generated by tolls that were supposed to be enough to keep it maintained.
The old structure had to be replaced because of earthquake vulnerabilities realized in 1989. The cantilever section now being torn down was never sunk down to the bedrock, but constructed onto gigantic redwood pilings that were driven into the bay mud. The pilings are still A-OK, but it was thought that they were an unsafe construction technique and this half of the bridge had to be replaced. Maybe some time should have been left before demolition to see what surprises and disappointments the new bridge would present. Somehow, the whole project, as gleaming white and impressive as it is, stinks of fraud, criminality, and corruption. China's reputation for honesty and quality, and super complexities rather than tried and true: what were our people thinking beyond lining their own pockets?