The 89-year-old Berkeley municipal pier has been closed indefinitely after inspectors noticed crumbling concrete and corroded steel supports, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.

 

The pier was closed to all traffic — people and cars — on Wednesday. The pier had been closed to vehicles about three weeks ago, but pedestrians had continued to have access until this week.

 

According to Berkeley City Manager Christine Daniel, the pier was closed “because of considerable structural damage to the concrete deck and support system.”

 

No one will be allowed on the pier until “further testing and repairs can be made,” Daniel said.

 

A schedule for inspections and repairs was not immediately known, and there was no word when the pier might reopen, according to a spokeswoman for the city manager. A chain-link fence and yellow police warning tape were placed at the entrance to the pier.

 

Steve DeJesse of IDA Structural Engineers in Oakland, the firm that examined the pier for the city, said the city hired his company when they saw cracking in the pier concrete near the shore. The concrete had crumbled, revealing rusted rebar.

 

“Rebar expands when it rusts, and it pops the concrete off,” DeJesse said.

DeJesse said the bay end of the pier was rebuilt in the 1980s and is in “good shape.” But the older half, closest to land, dates to the 1950s and shows severe deterioration. He said the pier is a deck over concrete beams supported by piles driven into the bay mud.

 

“There’s widespread cracking, and parts (of the concrete) are falling off or have already fallen off,” he said. “It’s hard to see what is going on underneath.”

 

DeJesse called the deterioration “pretty widespread,” due to a “very aggressive marine environment.”

 

“In our initial look, we found enough of it to be concerned. The city is erring on the side of safety instead of putting their heads in the sand,” he said.

 

Keeping the pier open was too risky, he said, because the city cannot know how many people and how much weight could be on the damaged structure at any one time.

 

“The access to the pier is not really controlled. While there are not that many people there on a daily basis, it is uncontrolled in terms of how many people can be out there. It’s really unfortunate. But the city is doing the right thing. I know they are going to catch a lot of heat for it. But they would catch more heat if they didn’t do anything.”

 

The pier was originally built to accommodate ferry service, which was discontinued after the opening of the Bay Bridge in 1937. The pier was originally 3 miles long, but access to all but the first half-mile was sealed off years ago. It is a favorite destination for fishing and sightseeing.

 

Robert Gardner of Berkeley, who has been fishing at the pier since 1968 when he was 3, said he was sad to see it closed. He came to the pier on Thursday with a folding chair, two poles and a cooler full of anchovies for bait. Instead of walking out on the pier, as usual, he stood by the fence and tried his luck. From where he stood, he was actually over land, not water. With a long cast, he did manage to catch a rock fish, but he threw it back.

 

“There’s been no fishermen today,” he said. “Usually, I’ll see about 50 fishermen out here.”

 

Businesses that cater to pier visitors were already beginning to feel the effects of the closure.

 

At the Berkeley Bait and Tackle Shop on San Pablo Avenue, owner C.J. McGowen said the shutdown was having a serious effect on business.

 

His finest worms, blood worms from Maine, sell for $18 a dozen. He just got in a shipment of 250 of them, and they live 10 days or so. A dead worm is no good to a fisherman or to a bait store. And his nightcrawlers, at $2.60 a dozen, may never find customers either.

 

“I get a lot of my business from people going to the pier,” said McGowen, who has been selling worms in Berkeley for 40 years. “This is going to cut down on my business. I hope they fix it fast.”