Cost Overruns Take Toll on Bridge Retrofitting
The tab for strengthening the state’s toll bridges against earthquakes, a job already costing twice initial 1990s estimates, could rise an additional $630 million and imperil other transportation projects, a new state audit warns.
The audit, released this week, chronicles how a $2.2-billion project to retrofit seven major bridges by 2004 has turned into a $4.6-billion project that will take until 2009.
According to the audit, most of the cost overruns and delays stem from a single development--a $1.3-billion “signature” upgrade for the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Bay Area bridge tolls doubled in 1998 from $1 to $2 to pay for the upgrade, and will continue to 2038, long beyond their original 2008 expiration date.
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