Caltrans To Try Temporary Paving To Ease Bay Bridge Bumps

Caltrans plans to take the bumps out of the commute over the Bay Bridge by using temporary paving to smooth the ride over steel plates being used during a two-month maintenance project, officials said Monday evening. Dan McElhinney, Caltrans chief deputy district director, said that the preferred fix would add an inch or inch and a half of a polyester paving material to the deck, making it level with the steel plates. Contractors are using the inch-thick steel plates to cover and close gaps where six expansion joints, apparently original pieces of the nearly 78-year-old bridge, are being replaced. According to McElhinney, the joints show signs of serious deterioration but are not yet a hazard. Caltrans has used steel plates before on the Bay Bridge and its approaches, and had hoped commuters would grow accustomed to them, just as they have with the long series of obstacles — including the infamous S-curve — they encountered during construction of the new east span of the Bay Bridge and the seismic retrofitting of the west span and approach.