Retro-Fitting CAL Stadium

Now that the hippies are down from the trees in Berkeley the focus is moving to the actual retro fitting of the Cal Football stadium.   The 75,662 seat stadium sits directly on top of the Hayward Fault one of the more active faults in the world.

Here’s the actual stadium

And here’s where the fault intersects

“The U.S. Geological Survey said has a 70 percent chance of hatching a 6.7-magnitude or greater quake by 2030. The earth could move up to 6 feet horizontally and 2 feet vertically, presenting a challenge to engineers charged with saving the stadium and the football fans who might be inside.”

The Plan

“The plan, which is expected to get under way in the next year or two, calls for portions of the stadium to be sliced into blocks that will rest on plastic sheets. When the earth ruptures, the soil will move under the sheets but, engineers hope, will leave the blocks intact. The price tag for the retrofit is estimated at between $150 million and $175 million.”