Oakland, CA

Bay Area Rapid Transit, Earthquake Safety Program

Scope/Solutions

Carrying about 360,000 commuters every day, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is an important part of the region’s transportation infrastructure. Knowing that the transit system could experience a major earthquake, BART initiated the Earthquake Safety Program to upgrade vulnerable and high-volume sections of the system to help them quickly reinstate service following an event. Under a term contract, SGH performed seismic assessments and assisted with upgrading this critical transit system.

Over a four-year period, SGH assessed the seismic vulnerability of station buildings and platforms, repair yard facilities, control towers, administrative offices, and parking garages system-wide. Highlights of our work include the following:

  • Performed seismic evaluations and developed preliminary upgrade designs for seven elevated parking structures, maintenance facilities at Hayward and Daly City stations, administrative offices, and system control towers
  • Developed seismic criteria for designing new parking structures and retrofitting existing parking structures
  • Peer reviewed a seismic evaluation of the McArthur station
  • Mentored and provided technical review for BART in-house engineers performing upgrades of some buildings and structures
  • Acted as the engineer for record for the seismic upgrades of the Pleasant Hill parking structure, designed new shear walls within the frames adjacent to the speed ramps, and developed a solution resulting in no loss of parking spaces and allowing construction while the structure remained in service

Project Summary

completion-date

2008

Completion Date
Solutions
Repair & Rehabilitation
Services
Structures
Markets
Infrastructure & Transportation
Specialized Capabilities
Seismic Engineering

Key team members

Ronald Hamburger
Ronald Hamburger
Consulting Principal