Remaking the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Read online

  Remaking the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge:

  A Case of Shadowboxing with Nature

  On 17 October 1989 one the largest earthquakes to occur in California since the San Francisco earthquake of April 1906 struck Northern California. Damage was extensive, none more so than the partial collapse of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge's eastern span, a vital link used by hundreds of thousands of Californians every day.

  The bridge was closed for a month for repairs and then reopened to traffic. But what ensued over the next 25 years is the extraordinary story that Karen Trapenberg Frick tells here. It is a cautionary tale to which any governing authority embarking on a megaproject should pay heed.

  She describes the process by which the bridge was eventually replaced as an exercise in shadowboxing which pitted the combined talents and shortcomings, partnerships and jealousies, ingenuity and obtuseness, generosity and parsimony of the State's and the region's leading elected officials, engineers, architects and other members of the governing elites against a collectively imagined future catastrophe of unknown proportions. In so doing she highlights three key questions:

  ♦ If safety was the reason to replace the bridge, why did it take almost 25 years to do so?

  ♦ How did an original estimate of $250 million in 1995 soar to $6.5 billion by 2014?

  ♦ And why was such a complex design chosen?

  Her final chapter – part epilogue, part reflection – provides recommendations to improve megaproject delivery and design.

  Karen Trapenberg Frick is Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, Co-Director of the University of California Transportation Center and Assistant Director of the University of California Center on Economic Competitiveness in Transportation.

  Planning, History and Environment Series

  Editor:

  Ann Rudkin, Alexandrine Press, Marcham, UK

  Editorial Board:

  Professor Arturo Almandoz, Universidad Simón Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

  Professor Nezar AlSayyad, University of California, Berkeley, USA

  Professor Scott A. Bollens, University of California, Irvine, USA

  Professor Robert Bruegmann, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

  Professor Meredith Clausen, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

  Professor Yasser Elsheshtawy, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE

  Professor Robert Freestone, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

  Professor John R. Gold, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK

  Professor Michael Hebbert, University College London, UK

  Selection of published titles

  Planning Europe's Capital Cities: Aspects of nineteenth century development by Thomas Hall

  Selling Places: The marketing and promotion of towns and cities, 1850-2000 by Stephen V. Ward

  The Australian Metropolis: A planning history edited by Stephen Hamnett and Robert Freestone

  Utopian England: Community experiments 1900–1945 by Dennis Hardy

  Urban Planning in a Changing World: The twentieth century experience edited by Robert Freestone

  Twentieth-Century Suburbs: A morphological approach by J.W.R. Whitehand and C.M.H. Carr

  Council Housing and Culture: The history of a social experiment by Alison Ravetz

  Planning Latin America's Capital Cities, 1850–1950 edited by Arturo Almandoz

  Exporting American Architecture, 1870–2000 by Jeffrey W. Cody

  The Making and Selling of Post-Mao Beijing by AnneMarie Broudehoux

  Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An urban kaleidoscope in a globalizing world edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy

  Globalizing Taipei: The political economy of spatial development edited by Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok

  New Urbanism and American Planning: The conflict of cultures by Emily Talen

  Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, scarcity and space. 1949-2005 by Duanfang Lu

  Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities edited by David L.A. Gordon

  Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the twentieth century by Christopher Silver

  Designing Australia's Cities: Culture, commerce and the city beautiful, 1900-1930 by Robert Freestone

  Ordinary Places, Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, democracy and urban space in Latin America edited by Clara Irazábal (paperback 2015)

  The Evolving Arab City: Tradition, modernity and urban development edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy

  Stockholm: The making of a metropolis by Thomas Hall

  Dubai: Behind an urban spectacle by Yasser Elsheshtawy

  Capital Cities in the Aftermath of Empires: Planning in central and southeastern Europe edited by Emily

  Gunzburger Makaš and Tanja Damljanović Conley (paperback 2015)

  Lessons in Post-War Reconstruction: Case studies from Lebanon in the aftermath of the 2006 war edited by Howayda Al-Harithy

  Orienting Istanbul: Cultural capital of Europe? edited by Deniz Göktürk, Levent Soysal and İpek Türeli

  Olympic Cities: City agendas, planning and the world's games 1896-2016, 2nd edition edited by John R. Gold and Margaret M. Gold

  The Making of Hong Kong: From vertical to volumetric by Barrie Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz and Thomas Kvan (paperback 2015)

  Urban Coding and Planning edited by Stephen Marshall

  Planning Asian Cities: Risks and resilience edited by Stephen Hamnett and Dean Forbes

  Staging the New Berlin: Place marketing and the politics of reinvention post-1989 by Claire Colomb

  City and Soul in Divided Societies by Scott A. Bollens

  Learning from the Japan City: Looking East in urban design, 2nd edition by Barrie Shelton

  The Urban Wisdom of Jane Jacobs edited by Sonia Hirt with Diane Zahm (paperback 2015)

  Of Planting and Planning: The making of British colonial cities, 2nd edition by Robert Home

  Healthy City Planning: Global health equity from neighbourhood to nation by Jason Corburn

  Good Cities, Better Lives: How Europe discovered the lost art of urbanism by Peter Hall

  The Planning Imagination: Peter Hall and the study of urban and regional planning edited by Mark Tewdwr-Jones, Nicholas Phelps and Robert Freestone

  Garden Suburbs of Tomorrow? A new future for cottage estates by Martin Crookston

  Sociable Cities: The 21st-century reinvention of the Garden City by Peter Hall and Colin Ward

  Modernization, Urbanization and Development in Latin America, 1900s–2000s by Arturo Almandoz

  Planning the Great Metropolis: The 1929 Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs by David A. Johnson (paperback 2015)

  Remaking the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge: A case of shadowboxing with nature by Karen Trapenberg Frick

  Remaking the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

  A Case of Shadowboxing with Nature

  Karen Trapenberg Frick

  First published 2016

  by Routledge

  2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN

  and by Routledge

  711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

  © 2016 Karen Trapenberg Frick

  This book was commissioned and edited by Alexandrine Press, Marcham, Oxfordshire

  The right of the authors has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

  The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.

  Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

  A Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data record has been requested for this title

  ISBN: 978-0-415-73658-9 (hbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-315-66090-5 (ebk)

  Typeset in Aldine and Swiss by PNR Design, Didcot

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  List of Illustrations and Sources

  1. Mind over Matter

  2. Field Guide to Megaproject Interpretation

  Part 1: Time in Suspension

  3. Past as Prologue

  4. Engineering between the Fault Lines

  Part 2: A Race Against Time

  5. Shockwaves by Design

  6. Ground Motions when Pedalling for a Pathway and Train Tracks

  Part 3: Hurry Up and Wait ... and Wait

  7. Freefalling to Vertigo

  8. Back to the Future: the ‘Big One’ of Skyrocketing Costs

  9. Aftershock: Hubris and Shadowboxing with Nature

  List of Abbreviations

  Appendix A1. Bay Bridge Cost Increases

  Appendix A2. Key State Legislation for Bay Bridge’s New East Span

  References

  Index

  Acknowledgements

  Writing about the new Bay Bridge has been akin to catching a tiger by the tail because of its state of flux and public debate, which has spanned over two decades. Several people and organizations provided me with invaluable assistance along the way. Martin Wachs of University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley and Elizabeth Deakin and Robert Cervero at Berkeley have been constant shining beacons throughout my career. They have been a source of unlimited encouragement and critical research guidance, and are true inspirations in our field. Martin Wachs suggested the new bridge as a topic of research for which I am deeply grateful. Nezar AlSayyad, also at Berkeley, provided tremendous advice on navigating through the book proposal and development process. Robert Paaswell of City University of New York, Jan Whittington of the University of Washington and Vicki Elmer of the University of Oregon motivated me to tell the bridge story during our many conversations.

  Berkeley colleagues Phyllis Orrick and Joshua Seeherman reviewed the full manuscript and provided detailed and spirited comments and suggestions throughout that propelled the narrative forward. I also extend tremendous appreciation to my interdisciplinary writing group of Berkeley faculty, which includes Charisma Acey, Carolina Reid, Karen Tani, Andrea Sinn, Caitlin Rosenthal, Lisa Trever and Elena Schneider. We dubbed ourselves the 'Quilting Collective' in honour of our weekly sessions to review and critique our work, including this book chapter by chapter.

  This research would not have been possible without the assistance of the Bay Bridge participants I interviewed as they graciously lent me their wisdom, time, and files during our initial and many follow-up discussions. Much gratitude is extended to the photographers, designers, engineers, illustrators and their colleagues who kindly provided permission for use of their images, which are a critical component of Bay Bridge history Documentarian Jon Rubin of National Image Works and his timing in developing a film about the new bridge proved valuable on many levels, particularly with receiving access to his interview transcripts. I also would like to thank the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Caltrans and the staff from private firms who graciously responded to my numerous questions that spanned the research project's many years.

  University of California, Berkeley's College of Environmental Design (CED) Dean Jennifer Wolch; Karen Chapple, Paul Waddell, Alexander Skabardonis, Samer Madanat, Alexandre Bayen, Michael Cassidy, Karen Christensen, Paul Groth, Daniel Chatman, Michael Dear, Judy Innes, Malla Hadley and Louise Nelson Dyble at Berkeley; Brian Taylor, Donald Shoup, and Evelyn Blumenberg at University of California, Los Angeles; and, David Booher at California State University, Sacramento provided additional motivating support. Graduate and undergraduate students' sharp questions and insights during class presentations provided a unique window into how bridges capture the imagination and become a touchstone for discussing societal issues and challenges. My thanks go to Edward Elgar Publishing for permission to include material from my chapter in Decision-Making on Megaprojects: Cost Benefit Analysis, Planning and Innovation (2008) and to Bent Flyvbjerg, Hugo Premius and Bert Van Wee who edited the book.

  Several institutions provided key material and assistance including the MTC Association of Bay Area Governments library with Julie Tunnell, Joan Friedman and Ying Cai; University of California, Berkeley's Bancroft Library with Crystal Miles, Environmental Design Library with David Eifler, Environmental Design Archive with Waverly Lowell and Chris Marino, the Institute of Transportation Studies with Rita Evans and Kendra Levine, CED's Visual Resources Center with Jason Miller, and Doe Library's newspaper and microfilm collection with Rebecca Darby. Numerous key actors and staff affiliated with the bridge project or public agencies also provided valuable material including Steve Heminger, Lawrence D. Dahms, Andrew Fremier, Randy Rentschler, Brian Mayhew, Brenda Kahn, Karin Betts, Peter Beeler, Peter Lee, Joe Curley, Ellen Griffin, David Cooper, John Goodwin, Pam Grove, Linda Walls, and Marjorie Blackwell of MTC; Tony Anziano, Ken Terpstra, Bart Ney, Ephraim Hirsch, and Raphael Manzanarez. I also would like to express much appreciation to Lisa Vorderbrueggen and the Contra Costa Times who provided access to bridge-related files that she and others at the newspaper extensively curated. Colleagues also central to many manuscript details include Sage Purkey, Josephine Lau, Susan Doran, Kelly Clonts, David Weinzimmer and Andreanna Tzortzis.

  Importantly, the following organizations and programmes provided generous financial support: the University of California Transportation Center, the University of California Center on Economic Competitiveness in Transportation, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), University of California, Berkeley, Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program through USDOT, and the Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship from the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar.

  To Carlo Benjamin Frick, I dedicate this book – from his joyful assistance as a preschooler years ago in scanning new bridge designs to the following decade with our countless bridge field trips filled with curiosity about the structure's design and construction as it unfolded before us and the San Francisco Bay region. To Marc Intagliata, I give heartfelt thanks as he provided much enthusiastic support in research, this book project, and life while also inspiring critical evaluation of public policy and the provision of infrastructure and services. I also am especially thankful to Judy, Mark and David Trapenberg for their ongoing encouragement and check-ins on how the bridge and the research were evolving. Judy Trapenberg was a stalwart in research assistance through her meticulous clipping of Southern California news articles about the new span, always mailed promptly in a hand-addressed stamped envelope – a rarity and gift in today's virtual world of communication.

  Karen Trapenberg Frick

  Berkeley

  June 2015

  List of Illustrations and Sources

  Figure 1.1. The collapsed Bay Bridge East Span following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. (Photo:

  C.E. Meyer, US Department o
f the Interior, United States Geological Survey)

  Figure 1.2. Demolition of a section of the San Francisco–Embarcadero Freeway in front of the Ferry

  Building, May 1991. (Photo: Released into public domain by Octoferret, Wikimedia)

  Figure 1.3. New East Span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and San Francisco skyline. The

  new span is to the right of the original 1936 span. (Photo: © Barrie Rokeach, 2015. All rights reserved)

  Figure 1.4. Map of toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area. (Source: Metropolitan Transportation

  Commission, Bay Area Toll Authority)

  Figure 3.1. San Francisco resident Joshua A. Norton, self-ordained ‘Emperor of the United States

  and the Protector of Mexico’. (Source: Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California,

  Berkeley from the California Faces: Selections from The Bancroft Library Portrait Collection)

  Figure 3.2. Trans-Bay Suspension Bridge illustration by Allen C. Rush, 1913. (Source: The Overland

  Monthly, 1913)

  Figure 3.3. Trans-Bay Suspension Bridge model by Allen C. Rush, 1913. (Source: The Overland

  Monthly, 1913)

  Figure 3.4. Suspended Track Automotor Railway by Fletcher Felts, 1910. (Source: The San Francisco

  Call, 1910)

  Figure 3.5. Illustration from Fletcher E. Felts’s patent for a Suspended Track Automotor Railway,

  1909. (Source: United States Patent Office, 1909)

  Figure 3.6. Louis Christian Mullgardt’s the Court of the Ages adjacent to the Palace of Fine Arts,

  San Francisco, 1915. (Photo: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley from the Views of

  the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Collection, Volume 3)

  Figure 3.7. Louis Mullgardt, illustration of Multiple Bay Bridge, 1927. (Source: Architect and Engineer,

  1927)

  Figure 3.8. Louis Mullgardt, cross-section of Multiple Bay Bridge, 1927. (Source: Architect and

  Engineer, 1927)

  Figure 3.9. Louis Mullgardt, aerial view of proposed Multiple Bay Bridge, 1927. (Source: Architect and