A gathering political storm over Bay Bridge engineering fiasco

From more than 1,200 faulty bolts installed on the Bay Bridge—32 of which have snapped, so far—to an as yet untold number of threaded rods that engineers say are also in danger of snapping, the heat is getting turned up on Caltrans. And it’s likely to be turned up more on May 14, when a hearing is scheduled on the Bay Bridge fiasco in Sacramento. Lawmakers are already champing at the bit. State Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) is quoted in the Chronicle today as saying “someone made a mistake, and it’s going to cost us a fortune that we can’t afford.”