Nine months after cracks were discovered in two steel beams in the structure of the Transbay Transit Center, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in San Francisco, the transit center will finally reopen on July 1. However, buses won’t be running through the $2.2 billion terminal until late summer; at first, only the 5-acre rooftop park will be open to the public.
The repair plan revealed in January appears to have worked, as a panel of engineers declared the structure safe Tuesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which covers the entire San Francisco Bay Area, had determined that the weld access holes in the two cracked beams had been improperly cut during construction, resulting in stress fractures. After the city paid $6 million for testing and $2.5 million per month for security at the closed center, the contractors decided to reinforce the two affected beams, as well as the two intact beams to which they are connected, with steel plates.
Although the three-block transit center is safe to occupy again, the interior was stripped during the repairs and workers need more time to reinstall the ceiling and column coverings. Bus drivers, who previously picked up and dropped off passengers at a satellite terminal on Folsom Street a block away, will also need to be retrained. In the meantime, fitness classes will resume on the roof of the transit center and pedestrians will be able to explore the park again.
On the other hand, there is no word on the progress of work to bring rail to the basement of the complex, which was built to accommodate high-speed trains but remains empty. No timetable or budget has been agreed upon for an extension of BART and Caltrain to the Transbay Transit Center, although politicians and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, the independent agency responsible for bringing rail to the station, have agreed that it is necessary.
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