Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The signature tower of the new Bay Bridge contains more than four hundred giant steel bolts that may be inferior to the 32 rods that have already snapped, SF Gate reports. The 400-plus bolts in the tower had been dipped in hydrochloric acid even though doing so violated industry standards. The acid can make steel more brittle and susceptible to failure, but instructions from Caltrans to forgo the acid baths apparently never made it to the Alabama manufacturer of the rods. It’s too late to replace the rods, however, because they’re no longer accessible in the tower. If the giant bolts break during an earthquake, it could be catastrophic.
Thomas Frazier Thomas Frazier
