BAY AREA QUAKE : Inspectors Had Rated Nimitz Sound : Safety: Regular checks had turned up cracks and chips in the concrete pillars, but a Caltrans aide says they did not contribute to the freeway's collapse.

October 20, 1989|DANIEL M. WEINTRAUB | TIMES STAFF WRITER

Other members of the commission have not been named, but will include representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Highway Administration, research institutions and private corporations, the governor's office said.

Buckle, in an opinion article published in The Times on Thursday, defended Caltrans' record in upgrading the state's freeways to prevent destruction in an earthquake. He said the department had followed a proper strategy of fixing the simplest problems first and saving the most difficult problems--such as the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Nimitz Freeway double-decking--for last.

"Now is not the time for knocking Caltrans," Buckle wrote.

Despite Buckle's statement, Deukmejian Press Secretary Kevin Brett said the governor was confident that the earthquake expert from Buffalo, N.Y., would conduct a thorough investigation of the freeway collapse.

"We believe he is going to be objective in his evaluation," Brett said. "We are certain he is going to be critical where he needs to be critical. We want the facts, and those facts may not be pretty, because we don't want to see this tragedy happen again."

Times staff writers John Hurst, Paul Jacobs and Richard Paddock contributed to this story.

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