SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission officials must consider the risks in deciding whether to delay the scheduled Labor Day weekend opening of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge or keep traffic flowing over the old span, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.Caltrans will soon tell the commission what it intends to do, but bridge officials say that even with questions about the integrity of more than 2,300 steel rods used in the building of the new span, it is more likely to withstand an earthquake better than the bridge in operation since 1936.Among the old bridge’s design flaws are its foundation, which Caltrans’ chief engineer on the eastern span project, Brian Maroney, told the newspaper, are too weak to resist a powerful earthquake centered in the San Francisco Bay Area.Still, even with questions about the steel rods, the new span is more likely to withstand an earthquake than the old bridge.This old bridge is the biggest problem we’ve got,” Steve Heminger, the transportation commission’s executive director, told The Chronicle“There is no fix to it, other than moving traffic onto the new span. That’s why we feel such a sense of urgency.”The old bridge is anchored with treated Douglas fir trees, driven 85 to 120 feet down into clay and mud. Some penetrate the mud and are anchored into three giant, hollow concrete boxes that serve as supports.The mud can become like Jell-O during a quake, a process known as liquefaction.