Crews are hard at work blasting away and/or painting over little steel particles which are now causing rust stains on the bright white paint of the one-year-old eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The particles got embedded in the paint because the contractor failed to adequately tarp the tower and other parts of the bridge when various steel grinding was taking place during the bridge's construction, and fixing this aesthetic problem is going to cost about $1 million, with half of that coming from toll-payers, as the Chron reports.

Blame for this latest flub in what was hardly a perfect construction process is being shifted back and forth between Caltrans and the contractor, American Bridge/Fluor, with Caltrans bringing up the tarp thing, and the contractor blaming Caltrans for insisting that the bridge components be painted too early, right after fabrication in China.

The contractor claims they warned Caltrans of the risk of damage during construction if the painting occurred at that early stage, and indeed, molten steel particles flying all around the site ended up embedded in the paint on the signature 525-foot tower, as well as cross-beams and on the sides of the bridge deck. Caltrans says they had the pieces painted in China in order to avoid seawater corrosion on the trip across the Pacific.

Orange rust spots began appearing recently as a result of the embedded particles, which are now being scrubbed off and painted over. Also, steel barriers along the deck that have already been struck and scraped by motorists are getting a repaint job as well.

So let's see: cracked bolts, leaks, "kinking" bolts that may cause structural problems, and now this? Please let this stop. I'm really tired of writing about this effing bridge.

[Chron]