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Description
In the wake of the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, Caltrans commissioned an oral history project to document the personal and professional experiences of Caltrans employees who worked to restore the State's damaged transportation system. At the time of the interview, Don Kiser was a Superintendent III, a Regional Manager of the Petaluma region for Caltrans Maintenance. When the Loma Prieta Earthquake happened Kiser was in Napa out in an open field and noticed how strong the shaking was. Later, on his car radio driving to his residence he heard on the news about the closure of the Bay Bridge, Cypress Street Viaduct and the fires in San Francisco. After checking his residence, Kaiser then went to the Napa Maintenance Yard and started contacting his Supervisors and was communicating with Jack Bell at the Petaluma Maintenance Yard who was on the radio and had a cell phone connection to the command center at 150 Oak Street in San Francisco. Initially, Kiser had supervisors inspect structures for damage in his region. There wasn’t any significant changes to the structures, so in the days and weeks after the earthquake, Kiser played a support role to areas that had received damage. This included the Cypress Street Viaduct and damaged bridge railings on 580. On the Eighteenth, there was a request for him to have his crews to gather the materials and resources needed to set up a Bailey bridge. The next day, after a closer inspection of the damage of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge it was decided not to go through with this option.
Type
sound
Format
Original Audio cassette
Extent
1 Tape of 1 00:32:00
Identifier
casadt_000159
Language
English
Provenance
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) California Revealed is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.
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