California Legislator Begins Inquiry Over Bay Bridge Contractor Bonuses

SACRAMENTO (KCBS)—A California legislator is launching another official inquiry on Monday regarding the opening the Bay Bridge's eastern span. This time, the focus is on the bonuses received by contractors for finishing their projects on time or early.

Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael said that contractors for the Bay Bridge are in line to receive bonuses if the eastern span opens on time and that he's sending a letter this week to the Bay Area Toll Authority seeking more information.

"The financial issues are there in place to make sure that they can open in a timely manner and that makes sense to a lot of people, but what's clouding the issue is, of course, all the safety issues that have also come up recently," Levine said.

Levine said, while he's not making any accusations, he does want to know if money is playing a role over the decision to open the span on Labor Day as scheduled because contractors will make less if doesn't—and more if it does.

"We need to make sure that commuters feel safe and that's the reason why we are driving across it at any particular date rather the financial incentives," he said.

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