Oakland News Now – Salesforce Transit Center 2nd Crack In Steel Beam – Was It Earthquake Inspected?
New report of a Salesforce Transit Center 2nd crack In the steel support beam leads to this question: Was SFTC earthquake inspected?
Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) Executive Director Mark Zabanah told reporters that the last inspection of the steel that cracked was in January of 2016. But that brings up a new question: was the Transit Center inspected after the wave of tremors that have hit the SF Bay Area since January 2016?
There are scores of tremors between 3 and 4 that have struck in the SF Bay Area, and in some cases. But there is no evidence of earthquake related inspection of the Transbay Transit Center at any time after the 2016 inspection.
The bigger question here is not inspection related but design related: was the Transbay Transit Center design put through a load simulation analysis?
Consider this: the bus ramp level and the roof level together produce the most complex combination of forces the building has to sustain: vibration from bus movements , people walking, wind, and rhythm moves of people dancing on the roof. Was any kind of computer based test applied to the building?
That responsibility there does not fall to Webcor / Obayashi because they just follow the post-design contract: that falls to Frank Clarke, the builder of the Transit Center.
But even then, it’s clear the Transit Center structure was inspected up to January of 2016, but not after.
And what about the role of the Cost Review Committee and the millions in change orders that were itemized in 2017?
Still more questions and work to do.
Stay tuned.
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