By McSweeney’s San Francisco Panorama Newspaper Project 
October 19, 2009 Adam Connelly And I'll be happy to donate, but...
What about "Why are they talking again about raising the bridge toll to $6/$3 for carpool!?". The whole bridge re-do has been plagued with such bullshit and graft since inception.
The main question is: which will take longer:
The completion of the bridge.
Or
The completion of the investigation of the building of the bridge.
Looking forward to about 2016 either way.
Even if the underlying graft is uncovered, what then?
That doesn't stop or reverse anything The money's already gone, the price will still go up, and we'll still be stuck footing the bill. All we'll know is where the money went.
And Schwarzenegger won't even be Governor any more by then. (fingers crossed)
Try coming to Boston! When the "Big Dig" was pitched to us waaaaaaaaay back in 1990, the total project price tag was under $3B. In 2008, the Boston Globe reported that the total Big Dig project costs, including debt service, would top $22B!!!
And after spending all that money, what do we have? A highway that's shut down to one lane in each direction every night, or closed altogether on other nights; a "linear park" that's woefully inadequate; and shoddy tunnel construction that's so far killed one motorist.
I wonder what it would have cost to build a highway that stays open and doesn't kill people? $40B?
Proud to support this! This is just the innovative type of thinking we need right now in our industry (publishing / journalism / books)! How do we get revelations on stories which are important to us!
Good job McSweenry's for initiating this! Thanks SFist for letting me know about this!
What about "Why are they talking again about raising the bridge toll to $6/$3 for carpool!?". The whole bridge re-do has been plagued with such bullshit.
If it costs $6.3B, even at a low 2% interest rate and a 50-year amortization, it's $200m a year. According to Wikipedia, the bridge averages 280000 crossings per day, so about 140000 tolls collected, which is 50 million per year, so the average cost per crossing is hitting $4.
Investigate the cost overruns. The tolls are a different story.
The toll increases are intended to pay for all these cost overruns on both the new Eastern Span (yes, over $6B for just half a bridge) and BART extensions.
imho, the project that mcsweeneys has undertaken, and the resource provided by spot us, combine to provide a way for people to get at the truth of this fiasco, which is only one example amongst an untold number of similar such examples of the mess that is created when the government attempts to solve problems. the fundamental problem is the deception that proliferates at every level and the almost total absence of genuine responsibility for decisions and actions. when people know the truth, they can decide whether to continue to tolerate the situation, or they can decide to identify better ways to solve problems. without truth we are simply slaves to the state. therefore, i feel that supporting this project is worthwhile. thanks for the opportunity ...
It's almost hard to believe that there might be a bridge reconstruction project that rivals the scale of our state's failure to complete the Bay Bridge in under a decade or two. And still, our bridge won't even accommodate bicycle traffic, despite all the designs and redesigns that have taken place. At this rate, my "great American novel" might actually be finished before the Bay Bridge retrofit is.
In terms of the cost in human lives, there have been at least two fatalities that I can recall. At least one motorist and one construction worker have died, both in separate accidents on the Bay Bridge.
I am totally blown away at what can only be described as gross mis-handling of tax payer money. Cost overruns are not limited to Bay Area Bridge Retrofit Projects. It runs rampant all over the State. Californian's heck American's are far too complacent and rely too much on "face value" of our State and Federal Representatives. More ombudsmen and more attention from Us is what is needed! Thank you for taking on this incredible challenge and getting to the root of the problem. I anxiously await your findings.
On a big project, the cost of materials can be effectively fixed in advance by purchasing options. So it is especially depressing to see taxpayer money wasted by government agencies who attribute increased costs to increases in materials.
There's a reason why government enjoys such a low approval rating -- because the parts don't work together, and they waste taxpayers' money through mismanagement.
Yet seldom do the heads at top really roll. When will America learn that we have no dearth of competent people to do difficult jobs? We must fire our leaders much more frequently!
I'm curious whether -- if the waste of taxpayer dollars is shocking enough and described in detail --- citizens or drivers will revolt over future toll increases.
I'm also curious about the details that compelled a construction foreman retrofitting the bridge to tell his family in October to stay off of it because it's a deathtrap. This is a construction worker who is scheduled to be on the bridge for the next two years and one of your crack editors, Michael Winter, will likely know how to reach this guy, I'm sure.
Good luck!
Bridge Toll Hike Proposed for Earthquake Safety - Upcoming Public Hearings in San Mateo, Concord and San Francisco
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/info/toll_increase.htm
Thursday, December 3, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.* Monday, December 7, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.* *Note: This hearing will feature a short open house (from 6:30 to 7 p.m.) and a staff presentation (beginning at 7 p.m.) prior to taking public testimony.
Concord Senior Center — Wisteria Room
(located in John F. Baldwin Park)
2727 Parkside Circle, Concord, California
San Francisco State University — Downtown Campus
835 Market St., Room 609
San Francisco, CA
QQ: Does anyone know authoritatively where the funding is derived from for this project? Above, it mentions '...who live in San Francisco...' but I don't believe that it is only the residents of the city or county of SF that are paying for this.
Are other counties contributing? What percent? How about state- and federal-level funding?
Just curious,
Jason
Try Quentin Kopp's SB 60 in late spring of 1997, a routine "spot" bill that had its language ammended to specify a "cable suspension design" bridge, funded by tolls. This is before the bridge design had been selected. The bill also had the nifty effect of putting control of the bridge design in the hands of the politicians at the MTC by taking it away from Caltrans.
Guy Span
Back in the 1970's I worked in a structural engineering office in SF. The principal of the firm, elderly at that time, predicted that the Bay Bridge would fall into the bay in the next century because by that time no one would know that the popping sounds are the rivets going from elastic to plastic stress response.
Popping sounds are often commented upon by construction workers today. It seems to me that popping sounds were mentioned prior to the failure of I95W in Minneapolis. And so I feel it worth mentioning.
I'm no engineer, but if I were still commuting across that bridge today I would be looking for an alternative.
This was a professionally researched and well-written investigative piece. It gives me hope that a mix of young and "seasoned" journalists can use innovative publishing methods to perform the ancient art of pulling the covers off of ruling class shenanigans.
Personally, I am pleased that the intellectually and monetarily corrupted daily newspapers are almost totally dead--good riddance. Advertising was always a terrible model for news delivery. It never worked. Ever.
Reader funding is the obvious path.
although the story left me with many different reactions, it gave me a great sense of pride to know that i helped to provide the funding and the whole project seems to me to have accomplished a lot. there's a small insert buried in the panorama that discusses some of the issues and observations regarding the production of this installment of mcsw's qc and how the lessons might be utilised by others to realise the potential of the broadsheet format or find new ways to revitalise the newspaper journalism genre, and imho the bay bridge explained piece is a perfect demonstration of what can be accomplished, and it really stands out on its own and functions on many levels. the entire product is amazing and i'm confident it will stand the test of time despite all the ephemera it contains.
Ron, Peter and everyone else.
I just want to give a big thank you to everyone that helped to make this story a reality. My hat is off to you all. Everyone here is a part of this story!
Just finished reading the piece today, and it was well worth my $$.
Keep up the great work, and submit a new pitch - would love to help fund more of your work.
