Crews prep to shore up cracked Salesforce transit terminal beams

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco transit officials say crews began work to shore up two cracked beams that shuttered a new $2 billion terminal. 

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority said Thursday that crews removed ceiling panels and light fixtures at the Salesforce Transit Center ahead of installing a system to support the beams that could begin this weekend. 

The authority, which operates the transit center, closed the center Tuesday evening. 
 
Workers that morning had discovered a crack 2 1/2 feet (less than 1 meter) long and 4 inches (10 centimeters) deep on a steel beam holding up the transit center's rooftop park. 
 
They found a smaller crack on a parallel beam later that day. 
 
The beams need to be braced before the transit center can reopen. The support system is being designed.