Repairs to two cracked beams at the Salesforce Transit Center completed, set to reopen in June

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KTVU/BCN) - Eight months after two cracked steel beams were discovered at the newly-opened Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco, repairs on those beams have been completed, officials with the Transbay Joint Powers Authority announced Thursday.

The work was completed ahead of schedule, as TJPA officials had said last month they hoped to finish the repairs by June. Although the repairs are done, an exact date for when the transit center will reopen hasn't been announced.

During the TJPA board of director's regular meeting on Thursday, senior construction manager Dennis Turchon said that with the repairs complete, the shoring system on First and Fremont streets has been removed.

Over the next month, Turchon said contractors will be reinstalling lighting panels and other physical materials that were taken apart during the repairs.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has begun an independent peer review on the repairs.

TJPA officials expect the MTC's peer review to conclude later this month, and if they approve the repairs, the center could reopen sometime in June.

"We would need ramp-up time to staff up, so we would need probably about a four-week period to be able to get bus training, get buses inside, staff-up and so forth," TJPA executive director Mark Zabaneh said. "We're moving at several levels in order to open the facility, but really right now we're waiting for a signal from the PRP (peer review panel)."

Turchon also revealed that for the center's rooftop park, contractors have concluded the original pathway, made of decomposed granite, will be replaced with concrete because of its durability and longevity. The concrete is set to be poured this month, he said.

The $2.2 billion four-story transit center-stretching four city blocks and equipped with access to bus service, a 5.4-acre public park and space for retail shops, art displays and restaurants-first opened in August. Just weeks later, however, the discovery of the cracked steel beams forced the center's closure and forced buses back to the Temporary Transbay Terminal.