San Francisco to open street shuttered by cracked terminal
UPDATE: 10/5/2018 3:30 p.m. San Francisco officials say they plan to re-open a street shuttered last month because of cracks found in a new $2 billion transit terminal.
Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, said Friday they will open Fremont Street for the morning commute Oct. 12.
Crews are also working at night to shore up similar beams over a parallel street. Those beams show no sign of cracking.
The authority, which operates the Salesforce Transit Center, is searching for reasons why two support beams cracked. Workers discovered the cracks Sept. 25 and the center was shut down that day.
Fremont Street runs through the multi-level center and its closure has worsened traffic in a congested part of downtown.
Buses are using a temporary transit center about two blocks away.
UPDATE: 9/26/2018 1:27 p.m. A San Francisco official says a new $2 billion transit terminal that shut down over a cracked support beam has a second adjacent beam that also shows signs of cracking.
Salesforce Transit Center executive director Mark Zabaneh said Wednesday that the facility would remain closed “at least through the end of next week” as inspections continue.
He says the problems are localized to that area of the transit hub but that officials don’t yet know what’s caused the cracking.
Workers discovered the first crack early Tuesday while installing roofing tiles.
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The so-called “Grand Central of the West” is closed out of safety concerns after workers discovered a crack in a support beam of the $2 billion transit terminal that opened just last month.
Executive director Mark Zabaneh says workers discovered the crack early Tuesday while installing roofing tiles at the Salesforce Transit Center. He said structural engineers would be working at the building Tuesday night to assess whether it is safe for people to return.
Enveloped in wavy white sheets of metal veil, the five-level center includes a bus deck, a towering sky-lit central entrance hall and a rooftop park with an outdoor amphitheater. Zabaneh said American steel was used in the center’s construction.
Buses were rerouted to a temporary transit center about two blocks away.
