Implosion of portion of bridge moves closer.
Plans to demolish the largest pier in the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge using explosives took another step forward Thursday as a bay regulatory commission unanimously granted Caltrans a permit for the project.
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission approval was one of the final permits necessary — the last being from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — for Caltrans to move forward with the implosion on Nov. 10, Caltrans engineer Brian Maroney said at Thursday’s commission meeting in San Francisco.
Maroney elaborated on the plan to take down Pier E3, a 268-foot chunk of concrete set 165 feet in the Bay mud, in six seconds using nearly 400 small explosives. The concrete debris would, in theory, fall into 28 hollow cells within the pier and become entombed at the bottom of the Bay.
To keep the debris from spreading, crews would surround it with a boom and raise a “bubble curtain” of compressed air surrounding the pier.
Ian Wren, a staff scientist with environmental watchdog group Baykeeper, has expressed skepticism with that aspect of the plan and whether it would be able to adequately contain the concrete debris, saying that Caltrans is seeking a cheaper and faster option at the expense of the environment.
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