{"id":2900,"date":"2014-07-30T15:06:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T20:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/?p=2900"},"modified":"2014-07-30T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-30T20:06:59","slug":"transbay-transit-center-construction-reaches-halfway-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/transbay-transit-center-construction-reaches-halfway-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Transbay Transit Center Construction Reaches Halfway Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Transbay<\/a><\/p>\n

An aerial view of the Transbay Transit Center construction site, viewed from 201 Mission St. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201cNo great thing is created suddenly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The quote, attributed to the Greek philosopher Epictetus, is splashed across plywood panels at Fremont and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco. It\u2019s part of an ad campaign for the soon-to-be-built Salesforce Tower, but it could also apply to the neighboring Transbay Transit Center, the grand transportation terminal that has rendered a large chunk of SoMa a construction zone for the past several years.<\/p>\n

Workers officially broke ground on the transit center in 2010, beginning with the demolition of the old Transbay Terminal. Nearly four years later, the site still looks like a 1,500-foot-long chasm, buttressed by dozens of huge steel tubes. But that will change soon. According to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, construction is at about the halfway point. After two years of underground work, the above-ground portion of the building will begin to take shape this fall.<\/p>\n

Last week, the TJPA conducted a tour of the construction site to show off its cavernous underground portion before vertical construction begins.<\/p>\n

\"Transbay<\/a><\/p>\n

The walls are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to get a sense for the scale of the project from street level, because all of the work up to this point has been underground. \u201cYou get your exercise,\u201d said Chris Jones, who serves as the project\u2019s quality assurance coordinator. \u201cBasically, if I do my rounds, that\u2019s one lap around the project. It\u2019s half a mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

To give you an idea of just how big it is, two Transamerica Pyramids, laid down end to end, would nearly fit in the hole. During excavation, workers removed enough material to fill 120 Olympic swimming pools. (Other excavation trivia\u00a0can be found here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The steel that will support the new building will come from seven fabrication shops that are spread out all over the country. \u201cOur job numbers just came in, and I think we\u2019re employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\u201d said Stephanie Reichin, a spokeswoman for the TJPA.<\/p>\n

\"Transbay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re employing upwards of 6,000 people from around the country to create the steel,\u201d said TJPA spokeswoman Stephanie Reichin. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED)<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s $1.9 billion first phase will include a five-story bus terminal, which will stretch across four blocks. The building will be topped with a 5.4-acre rooftop park, which has been compared toNew York\u2019s High Line<\/a>. Future phases, which have yet to receive funding, will link high-speed rail and Caltrain to the station.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges associated with the site is groundwater. In the 1840s, the bay\u2019s shoreline was roughly where First Street is today. So, when workers began to dig, they encountered a lot of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created, essentially, a bathtub,\u201d said Reichin. That enabled workers to excavate the site without disrupting the surrounding water table. Crews pounded 100-foot-long I-beams into the ground, creating underground walls that are supported by a series of horizontal steel pipes, which are 3 feet in diameter. Those walls serve to prevent dirt and water from the surrounding neighborhood from pouring into the site.<\/p>\n

\"Transbay<\/a><\/p>\n

Workers tour the lower levels of the Transbay Transit Center construction site. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED)<\/p>\n

Workers found more than just water when excavating the site. They famously discovered a 1,300-year-old woolly mammoth tooth, some gold chips and a treasure trove\u00a0of\u00a0Gold Rush-era artifacts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recently, the transit center has been making headlines for its escalating price tag. Last month,\u00a0the Chronicle reported<\/a>\u00a0that the project\u2019s costs had risen by $150 million, forcing officials to drop more than $50 million in \u201ccosmetic\u201d expenses.<\/p>\n

The enormous size of the building is an\u00a0obvious\u00a0contributor to\u00a0the hefty price. But there are other reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building it correctly,\u201d said Reichin. \u201cWe have to build it for seismic structural integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The building must also conform to Federal Transit Administration and federal security requirements. The Bay Area\u2019s recent construction boom is also to blame, enabling construction companies to take their pick of projects, driving up prices in the bidding process.<\/p>\n

Standing at the base of the concrete chasm in a maze of scaffolding and rebar, it\u2019s still pretty difficult to picture the curvy, metal-clad structure that will rise over the next three years. But construction is moving steadily forward. The first four decks of the lower concourse have been poured, and beginning this fall, the building will\u00a0begin to take shape above ground.<\/p>\n

\"Transbay<\/a><\/p>\n

Construction is expected to be complete in late 2017. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED)<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/newsfix\/2014\/06\/16\/transbay-transit-center-construction-reaches-halfway-point\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An aerial view of the Transbay Transit Center construction site, viewed from 201 Mission St. (Mark Andrew Boyer\/KQED) \u201cNo great thing is created suddenly.\u201d The quote, attributed to the Greek philosopher Epictetus, is splashed across plywood panels at Fremont and Mission streets in downtown San Francisco. It\u2019s part of an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[80,717,718,719,720,721],"class_list":["post-2900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-blog","tag-construction","tag-development","tag-salesforce-tower","tag-san-francisco","tag-transbay-terminal","tag-transbay-transit-center","post_format-post-format-image","column","twocol"],"yoast_head":"\nTransbay Transit Center Construction Reaches Halfway Point<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s part of an ad campaign for the soon-to-be-built Salesforce Tower, but it could also apply to the neighboring Transbay Transit Center, the grand...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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