Features

Planet reporter’s three-year-old story makes TV news headlines 

OAKLAND — As late as Monday, access to potentially vulnerable areas of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was unguarded, a San Francisco Bay area television station reported. 

John Geluardi, a reporter with the Berkeley Daily Planet, told KTVU he followed a group of urban adventurers into sensitive areas of the bridge three years ago. They went into the abutments and even to the top of one tower, taking pictures of the inside of the bridge and of each other. 

On Monday, he went back to his access point with KTVU, and found it open with no security. 

“It dawned on all of us that it would be relatively easy to do a lot of damage to this bridge for a prankster or a terrorist,” he said regarding his trip into the bridge three years ago. 

Greg Bayol, of Caltrans, said it would be difficult for a terrorist to bring down the bridge, but said security will be tighter. 

“With the current state of affairs at all our bridges, that sort of thing will be watched a little closer,” he said. 

After Caltrans was notified of the opening Monday, it asked the California Highway Patrol to set up extra security. It said the opening won’t be sealed off, but other measures would be instituted to monitor it. 

On Thursday, Gov. Gray Davis warned of a possible terrorist threat to bridges in California, including the Bay Bridge.