Fix for $2.2 billion transit center to stretch through June

Officials with the Transbay Joint Power Authority announced Friday afternoon that reinforcement of the Salesforce Transit Center bus deck below First Street will begin this weekend and all repairs should be complete by June.

Over the weekend, crews will begin the process of removing hydraulic jacks on First Street between Howard and Mission streets and replace the jacks with a shoring system, though, beams supporting the transit center on First Street were to have no cracks.

The hydraulic jacks and soon- to-be shoring system on First Street are a precautionary measure, as the design is similar to that on Fremont Street where crews found two cracked beams last year on Sept. 25.

First between Howard and Mission streets will not open to traffic from 5 a.m. on Saturday through 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The $2.2 billion transit center has been closed ever since while officials worked to find a fix and cause of the cracked beams. AC Transit, Muni and other transit agencies have had to go back to the Temporary Transbay Terminal to pick up and drop off passengers.

At the last two TJPA meetings, officials discussed a fix for the two cracked beams, which a Metropolitan Transportation Commission peer review panel approved last December.

The fix includes the installation of two steel plates on both sides of the flanges of the beams and attach them with 224 bolts.

Officials expect for the steel plates to arrive in March and Herrick Corp, which is the same manufacturer who produced the two affected beams, are manufacturing the two steel plates.

While the MTC peer panel has already approved the fix, the panel will also go through drawings, inspection reports, design documents to determine if officials need to inspect other parts of the transit center.

After the assessment from the panel, the TJPA plan to announce a reopening date of the transit center.

Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the TJPA, said in a statement that the repairs underway are a major milestone in reopening the transit center:

“While we are eager to welcome the Bay Area back to the transit center, we are balancing this with our responsibility to undertake an appropriately rigorous inspection and review protocol and cooperate with the independent review of the facility.”

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.