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SAN FRANCISCO – A recently opened $ 2.26 billion transit center in the heart of South of Market's trendy San Francisco neighborhood was closed after engineers determined that a steel beam in the structure was cracked .
The closure of
Salesforce
The transit center Tuesday afternoon comes after cost overruns and delays have hindered the project. It opened to the public on August 11th. The center is named after the software vendor Salesforce, which purchased the terminal naming rights last year and has its head office about five blocks away.
Promoted as a state-of-the-art transportation hub to replace a former seismically deficient terminal, the center connects many of the transit systems in the San Francisco Bay Area to a structure that spans four blocks. houses.
Mark Zabaneh of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority answers questions at a press conference on closing the Salesforce Transit Center.
Photo:
Eric Risberg / Associated Press
The center is home to shops and restaurants, a public art program and a 5-acre rooftop park open to the public.
Mark Zabaneh, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, who oversees the terminal, said the engineers would inspect the structure Tuesday night to see if another part of the building was affected. The building was closed "by an abundance of caution," Zabaneh said.
"The safety of everyone visiting the Salesforce Transit Center is our obligation and our top priority," said Zabaneh. "Although this seems to be a localized problem and we have no information suggesting that it is widespread, it is our duty to confirm it before allowing public access to l & # 39; Installation. "
The Transit Center is next to a luxury condominium tower that opened in 2009 as the city's tallest residential structure and has since been known as the San Francisco Leaning Tower. ". the steel beam at the transit center was tied to the tower.
Crews installing ceiling panels discovered the crack around 10:00 am Tuesday, he said. The steel beam is located in the ceiling of the third-level bus bridge on the east side of the transit center. Nearby Fremont Street was also closed due to the discovery of the crack.
The shutdown will affect traffic in a very busy part of the city just as Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference begins. The closure of the structure also comes as city officials were promoting a week-long transit to the citywide, where the use of public transportation was encouraged.
Write to Alejandro Lazo at [email protected]
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