Salesforce Transit Center shuts after crack found in steel beam

Officials in charge of the brand-new $2.2 billion Salesforce Transit Center shut down the bus terminal late Tuesday afternoon before the rush hour commute after construction crews found a crack in a six-and half-foot steel beam while installing ceiling panels.

Crews found the crack around 10 a.m. Monday morning and structural engineers began inspecting the steel beam, said Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority Board of Directors at an evening press conference:

“Out of abundance of caution and based on recommendations and preliminary findings, it was determined that it was best to move operations at the temporary terminal and to further inspect the building to make sure it’s safe for the public to use moving forward.”

Commuters scrambled to old temporary Transbay Terminal at Main and Howard streets where AC Transit, Muni, WestCAT and Golden Gate Transit resumed bus service.

Ambassadors from different transit agencies were on hand to direct commuters to the temporary Transbay Terminal.

Zabaneh said:

“We’ll be working our transit agency partners and The City agencies to make sure that this operation is as smooth as possible. We realize this is going to be cumbersome and difficult for the traveling public.”

An investigation to the cause of the crack will be ongoing as structural designers will investigate through the night to Wednesday morning, which means bus service will continue to serve the temporary Transbay Terminal until at least Wednesday morning.

By then, Zanbaneh hopes to have a better idea of the cause of the crack and whether other adjacent areas of the cracked steel beam could be affected.

No traffic is moving through on Fremont Street between Mission and Howard streets, which is below the affected area of cracked steel beam. The street could be closed for one to two days depending on what structural designers find, said Zanbaneh.

The Salesforce Transit Center opened less than two months ago with much fanfare from city officials taking nearly eight years to complete.

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.