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Article: Bay Bridge retrofit project must keep artery pumping.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- November 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ Imagine Caltrans as the doctor and the patient, a mile of 66-year-old double-deck freeway over San Francisco leading to the Bay Bridge.
The operating table orders: Demolish and rebuild the seismically vulnerable artery while allowing 280,000 vehicles a day to flow through its 10 lanes.
It's like performing a heart transplant while the blood still pumps through the chambers.
"It's pretty amazing when you think about it," said Caltrans project engineer Ken Terpstra. "We have to tear down and rebuild in place a freeway in the heart of San Francisco, and at the same time, leave the same number of lanes open to commuter ...