PROJECT UPDATE: BART WSX
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JUNE 2017 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 23
“We did a couple of things.
Number one is that it had to be
designed for the most robust
for our seismic criteria including
near-fault aff ects, so it gets
a very robust structural analysis
and then the way we confi gured
it was actually without deep pile
foundations, rather on essentially
a fl oating foundation and because
there’s no amount of structure that
is going to withstand the forces in
a situation like that, so the best
thing you can do is roll with it
and let the movement happen and
maintain as much stability at the
track level that you can possibly
sustain,” explained Medved.
Th ere was an extra degree of
movement that was factored into
the abutment where the fault ran
through. Scott Fehnel, associate
vice president and program manager,
HNTB, explained that the
track was also designed to be wider
than typical to accommodate
if the fault moved.
“Th e fi rm bridge design experts
worked with some professors
from Cal Berkley and came
up with the unique solution there
to construct a forced transfer slab
underneath the northern upper
abutment. Th at enabled the
bridge to survive an earthquake
of an expected magnitude of 7.5
on the Richter scale, which is a
pretty large earthquake. So it can
survive a horizontal displacement
of the two planks of four feet and
a vertical displacement of three
feet,” said Fehnel. “If that occurred,
nothing the bridge would
be secure.”
Keys to a
Successful Launch
“Several things that I would say is
working closely with the stakeholders.
I think that BART did an excellent
job on that; we assisted them
in that process. Working collaboratively
with the contractors, there’s
always challenges with these types
of projects,” said Murphy.
Murphy said that he believes
that collaboration from start to
fi nish is important for a successful
transition from a capital delivery
program into a revenue service.
BART debuted the Warm
Springs station with an event
on March 24, 2017, and officially
launched service on March 25.
Medved explained, “It was
pretty quick that it all took shape;
it turned out very well. Friday the
24th was a cool, breezy, rainy
day, but the entryway to the station
afforded enough room for a
lot of happy people.
“It was a reunion, of sorts,” he
said, “for all of the people that
had been making this happen for
a long time.”