Defects Alleged in Bay Bridge

Allegations that the new Bay Bridge that will connect San Francisco to Oakland is riddled with defective welds has prompted an FBI probe and an outcry from lawmakers.

The charges were reported Wednesday in the Oakland Tribune after a nine-month investigation. Welders who worked on the project estimated that one-third of the 5,280 welds in legs or piles that hold up a bridge skyway may be substandard, according to the Tribune.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Mershon of the bureau’s San Francisco division was quoted as saying that the agency was investigating allegations that welders “were encouraged or instructed to save time by producing substandard welds.”

An FBI spokesman declined to be interviewed by The Times, but in a written statement the agency confirmed the investigation: “The complaints consistently allege a pattern of substandard welds affecting a number of pilings intended to support the new eastern span.”

The FBI investigation was prompted by a call to its Bay Area Public Corruption Hotline.

The contractor for the bridge project is KFM. Spokesman Tom Janssen said that “safety and quality are paramount with KFM, its managers, foremen and craft employees,” and added, “KFM’s welding on the Bay Bridge is performed in compliance with stringent Caltrans specifications, as well as the American Welding Society Codes.” After the Tribune story, Assembly Transportation Committee Chairwoman Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach) demanded an immediate briefing from the California Department of Transportation.

“During the controversy over the type of bridge to be built, I have always said safety is my No. 1 priority,” Oropeza said in a statement. “These allegations raise serious concerns about the risk to public safety, and we must get the full story as soon as possible.”

Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, requested a meeting with Will Kempton, director of Caltrans. “I want to know whether there is any truth to charges of shoddy work and efforts to conceal such defects,” he wrote in a fax to Kempton.

On Thursday, Torlakson and Kempton spoke by phone, and Kempton assured the senator that “Caltrans has and has had an extensive, detailed process in place to review the quality of welding on the Bay Bridge construction,” said Robert Oakes, the senator’s press secretary. “The welds meet Caltrans criteria.”

Kempton also extended an invitation to Torlakson to visit the site “to examine the quality of those welds and the process they used to inspect that,” Oakes said.

In a statement released earlier this week, Kempton said his agency would cooperate with the FBI’s investigation.

“In spite of the allegations referenced in the April 6 [Tribune] article, the public can be assured that a safe bridge is being built,” he said.