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Library Report Clarifies Bay Bridge Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2005

CONTACT:
Sarah Dalton
California State Library
916/654-1483

Library Report Clarifies Complex San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Rebuild/ Retrofit Project

Sacramento - A new report, Timeline of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Seismic Retrofit: Milestones in Decision-Making, Financing, and Construction , from the California Research Bureau (CRB), a division of the California State Library, chronicles the delays and funding battles of retrofitting, and ultimately rebuilding, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The annotated Timeline is a valuable tool for understanding the Bay Bridge project. Though the Timeline begins with Herbert Hoover's 1929 request for a Bay Bridge feasibility study, the report focuses on the sometimes-confusing events after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The Timeline culls crucial events from the mountains of reports and analyses connected to the Bay Bridge project and lays-out the events briefly and chronologically.

To help readers visualize the Bay Bridge project's changes, the report contains illustrations of the three most important proposed designs for rebuilding the bridge.

Assemblywoman Wilma Chan requested the report in an effort to provide a clearer understanding of the Bay Bridge retrofit history. Chan says, "Anyone who wants a straightforward account of the history of the Bay Bridge retrofit saga will find this report invaluable."

In addition to Timeline of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Seismic Retrofit: Milestones in Decision-Making, Financing, and Construction , the California State Auditor issued a December 2004 report (http://www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/summaries/2004-140.html) on the Bay Bridge project. On January 24, 2005 the Joint Legislative Audit Committee of the California State Legislature will hold a hearing on the auditor's report.

Timeline of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Seismic Retrofit: Milestones in Decision-Making, Financing, and Construction is available on-line at the California State Library's web site ). For detailed information, contact the report author, Dan Pollak, at (916) 657-2645 or dpollak@library.ca.gov.