The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • B5

Thursday, March 19, 2015 The Modesto Bee www.modbee.com B5 STATE NEW ORLEANS Slay- ing suspect Robert Durst, the eccen- tric real es- tate heir who was the subject of the HBO documen- tary was scheduled to be relocated Tuesday night to a mental health facility at a Louisiana state prison because of an acute medical condition, author- ities said. The move which was approved after much legal wrangling came on the same day that legal troubles played out in sev- eral jurisdictions across the country, including a police raid at his Houston residence and the an- nouncement by Eureka police that the 71-year-old may have information about the disappearance of a teenage girl there nearly two decades ago. are very interested in any information Mr. Durst may have in connec- tion with the disappear- of Karen Mitchell, said Eureka police Capt. Steve Watson, who did not identify Durst as either a suspect or person of inter- est in the 1997 case.

Meanwhile, New York authorities remain inter- ested in Durst as they con- tinue to unravel the mys- tery of what happened to his first wife, Kathleen, who disappeared in 1982. FBI agents arrested Durst on Saturday in a New Orleans hotel at the behest of Los Angeles officials. Po- lice in L.A. said they had uncovered new evidence linking Durst to the Bene- dict Canyon slaying in 2000 of writer and filmmaker Su- san Berman. On Monday, Durst was charged with one count of murder.

But when agents arrest- ed Durst, a search of his room uncovered a revolver and a stash of marijuana, leading to charges in New Orleans that are compli- cating transfer to L.A. His extradition will be delayed for at least five days as authorities in New Orleans determine how to deal with the lesser allega- tions there. Suspicions about Durst exploded into a national sensation as they played out in a six-part HBO se- ries, Agents took Durst into custody the day before fi- nale, in which Durst ut- tered a possible confession after the filming stopped but his microphone con- tinued recording. them all, of Durst muttered af- ter stepping away. The role of the documen- tary in assembling evi- dence against Durst could complicate a criminal trial, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday he was confident the prosecution would not depend on the broadcast.

is a unique set of cir- he said. our case is independent of the documentary. Our case will stand on its Detectives had actively investigated death for nearly 15 years, Beck said. Its resolution had been delayed by the of Durst and his attorneys as well as unrelated prosecu- tions in other states, he said. The chief declined to discuss details of the ongo- ing investigation, telling reporters that he did not want to jeopardize the case by making statements to the media.

Durst sent to mental health facility By Kate Mather, Molly Hennessy-Fiske And Howard Blume Los Angeles Times Robert Durst When recent tests revealed rust and tiny cracks on one of the massive steel rods that se- cure the tower of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to its foundation, bridge officials expressed concerns that other rods might be cracked, raising questions about whether the tower would be vulnerable in a major earthquake. chief engineer for the span, Brian Maroney, said earlier this month that even if the 422 remaining an- chor rods exist, the tower would easily survive even the most extreme quake. Some experts in civil and metallurgical engineering dispute conclu- sion. They say corrosion and cracking in the 26-foot-long rods might place the span at risk. The following questions and answers describe the controversy and its back- ground.

Why are the rods needed, and how were they contaminat- ed? These rods help anchor the tower during a large quake, which can cause dramatic upward and lateral motions. They are similar to others that snapped in 2013 on the eastern pier of the suspension span, requiring a costly retrofit. Installed in 2007, the rods begin a few feet above the base of the tower footing, near the water line. They descend into the reinforced concrete foundation cap. The space around the rods was meant to be filled with grout, a cement-like paste to protect against corrosion and cracks caused by moisture.

But before grouting in 2011, the space was not well sealed against rain or wash water from construction, and nearly all rods were exposed to water. How much did the rods cost? The California Depart- ment of Transportation has not yet provided an estimate for the cost of the design, manufacture and installation, saying the calculations involve multiple contracts. But by all ac- counts, the price tag ran into many millions of dol- lars. Work to address con- cerns about water and cor- rosion in the rods since last fall has cost tens of thou- sands of dollars. When was the problem dis- covered? In 2013, following the fracturing of the rods on the eastern pier, Bill Casey, a top Caltrans engineer for the project, began a general review of the bridge.

As part of that process, he extracted one anchor rod from the tower base. Casey explained what happened at a March 5 meeting of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Commit- tee, a panel created by the Legislature to approve ma- jor construction and spend- ing. When he pulled the rod out, it was wet and water had collected at the bottom of the hole, Casey said. He did not alert higher ups, even though water contam- ination was one reason the east pier rods fractured. Casey told The Sacra- mento Bee that he consid- ered the water unremarka- ble, left over from the nor- mal grouting process, which requires the use of some moisture.

He and Maroney still maintain that this type of water was not harmful to the rods. Nevertheless, they now plan to order a full battery of tests. Yun Chung, a retired metallurgist who has writ- ten extensively about the anchor rod issue, said that explanation seems to reflect a misunderstanding of grout chemistry. whole pur- pose of the grout is to keep water away from the which are inherently vul- nerable to corrosion-related cracking, Chung said. Water no matter its source is the enemy of the steel, he said.

In an interview, Robert Bea, engineering professor emeritus at UC Berkeley and an expert in risk assess- ment, called failure to respond to the water problem in 2013 and Last fall, Casey noticed standing water in spaces surrounding a few tower base rods during a routine inspection. Looking further, Caltrans found that 151 rods were not fully grouted a serious construction lapse. In six cases, little or no grout was present. Wherever grout is missing, the rods are vulnerable to corrosion. At that point, Caltrans realized it had a problem, and a second rod was ex- tracted for rigorous testing.

Experts recently detected corrosion and minute cracks at the bottom of that rod. Further testing will be con- ducted to determined if cracking also occurred at the top. What caused the cracks? Caltrans says it is not yet clear why cracks occurred, but a manufacturing step might have played a role. The rods were treated in hydrochloric acid before being covered in molten zinc to protect the steel against corrosion. Acid can cause hydrogen to enter the steel of such rods, inducing brittleness and vulnerability to cracking under stress.

Maroney said at the re- cent meeting that Caltrans does not know if the acid bath was long enough to be a problem. Quality assur- ance records for the job including inspection records that could settle the matter have not been located. In an interview, Maroney said he will seek funds for tests to determine whether the cracks were caused during manufacturing or by corrosion. He said the rods might have been harmed when Caltrans pulled the tower 18 inches to one side for one year to move the span off temporary supports and it onto its cable. That process stressed some rods dramatically.

stress corrosion cracking you need to have a sus- tained load for a long he said. year is a long How many rods might be at risk? Caltrans does not know how many other rods might be corroded or cracked. Definitive tests require removal of the rods a destructive process. Why not replace the rods to ensure safety? Putting aside the astrono- mical cost of rod replace- ment, they are embedded in the foundation cap, making installation of new rods impossible. Maroney said he has devised methods to retrofit the function of the rods if needed, such as adding steel beams between the tower and its base.

have some tricks up my sleeve from 25 years of modifying he said But Bea, the UC Berkeley professor, criticized the design choice. of the basic, fundamental principles involved in engi- neering a structural system is to engineer explicitly for in case unfore- seen problems arise, he said. In marine environments, moisture-related damage and repairs over time are typical, Bea said. Is public safety at risk? Maroney said at the March 5 meeting that even if other rods have tiny corro- sion-related cracks, similar to what has been found in the tested rod, they would remain sound for more than 100 years. Yet in the same meeting, he conceded that some rods might already be fractured all the way through.

Asked about that appar- ent contradiction, Maroney said the most likely risk is long-term: small cracks growing over many years. But to be sure, he plans to use high-frequency sound waves to check each rod for fractures between now and the next oversight commit- tee meeting, on April 17. Caltrans previously de- scribed the rods as impor- tant to secure the tower in a large temblor. But Maroney said computer modeling shows that even if all the rods were missing, the tow- er would move no more than one-third of an inch upward in the largest antici- pated quake. It might lean slightly, but with no impact on bridge traffic and no safety risk.

Bea disagreed. find such statements to be alarming and not he said. a very strong earth- quake, learned through sad experience that the vertical motions can be equal to if not greater than the horizontal This makes a secure connec- tion between the tower and the foundation vital. If the rods were unneeded for seismic safety or to ensure post-quake traffic flow, why were they installed and why should more time and money be spent on research about them? Although they are not a critical safety feature, Maro- ney said, the rods would offer an extra measure of support for the tower fol- lowing an earthquake. What happens now? Efforts to understand this problem are a work in pro- gress that could take months to complete.

Maro- ney said he wants thorough testing to ensure that noth- ing has been overlooked, and to predict whether tiny cracks in the rods could grow perilously over a short or a long period. He believes such tests, if approved, will cost a few million dollars. For now, Maroney propos- es leaving the rods ungrout- ed but using dehumidifiers to keep them dry and therefore, free from further corrosion. The absence of grout would allow easier monitoring for future prob- lems over the antici- pated 150-year service life. Until recently, Caltrans has said that tension in the rods was too low to prompt cracking.

Now that cracks have occurred, Maroney said lowering that tension furth- er, by loosening the nuts that secure the rods, might be an option to reduce the risk of more cracking over time. Charles J. McMahon, professor emeritus of mate- rials science and engineer- ing at the University of Pennsylvania, said that with so many unknowns about the state of the rods, Maro- comments amounted to guesswork. the person responsible for having this mess occur in the first place, you want to minimize the problem. human McMahon said.

Given the litany of prob- lems on the new span re- vealed in recent years, he said, think this may go down as the greatest civil engineering screw-up in the history of the United Cracks, doubts haunt Bay Bridge tower By Charles Piller The Sacramento Bee Manny Crisostomo Sacramento Bee file Testing has revealed rust and cracks in a steel rod anchoring the central tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to its foundation. Caltrans engineer Brian Maroney says he will seek funding for tests to determine what caused the cracks. Caltrans engineer Bill Casey shows anchor rods that secure the main cable of the new Bay Bridge suspension span in Oakland. The Sacramento Bee found corrosion on some rods. Navy SEAL dies after parachute fails in training PERRIS A Navy SEAL was killed when his parachute malfunctioned during train- ing in Southern California on Wednesday, Navy officials said.

The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to provide details beyond a brief statement issued by Naval Special Warfare Group One, which is the Coronado-based SEALs group to which the sailor was assigned. An American flag was draped over the body after the accident as emergency responders stood nearby. Cathedral set to stop drenching homeless SAN FRANCISCO The Ro- man Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco on Wednesday dismantled a sprinkler sys- tem it had installed at the cathedral during one of the worst droughts in Cali- fornia history to soak the alcoves and prevent home- less people from sleeping there. The archdiocese took down the sprinklers after a barrage of criticism because the system installed at St. Cathedral was drenching homeless people at night.

KCBS Radio first reported undeterred homeless people were using umbrellas and waterproof gear, but they were still getting soaked as they slept in the doorways. The sprinklers ran for about 75 seconds, about every half hour, starting before sunset in all four doorways, soaking homeless people and their belongings, a KCBS reporter who saw the sprinklers at work reported. From the Associated Press STATE In brief.