Nesting cormorants delay Bay Bridge demolition by six months.
The demolition of the Bay Bridge’s old eastern span will be delayed for at least six months because of nesting birds that refuse to vacate the structure.
The plan was to build new nesting areas on the new eastern span for the hundreds of cormorants, that have called the old span home for as long as it’s been standing, but that has not gone accordingly.
“Despite installing mirrors, installing recording devices to make it look like there are a bunch of birds already there—those birds have not been fooled,” Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin said. “We need to take what are known as additional bird mitigation measures and that may include more extensive use of netting.”
While the work to demolish the bridge’s cantilever sections continues, work to tear down two other truss sections will be delayed until Caltrans can come up with another plan. Goodwin said that, currently, they don’t have another other ideas on how to get the birds to moves.
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