Giant Cranes Clear Bridge

At 12:50 this morning

With only five feet to spare, two mammoth cranes weighing 1,500 tons squeezed their way under the Bay Bridge (above) on Saturday. Traffic to the span was completely halted.

Huge cranes clear Bay Bridge by 5 feet on trip to Oakland, SF Charonicle, Saturday, March 5

Rich and I had our usual breakfast at Joe's this morning; we went down about noon. As is customary, Rich picked up a paper. We read that a delivery of giant loading cranes was coming to the Port of Oakland today. The Port of Oakland had a previous delivery in 2000.

The cranes come from China. When they arrive, they must first go under the Golden Gate Bridge, then into the bay and under the Bay Bridge. This can be, shall we say, potentially problematic. The cranes are tall. The water could raise or lower.

Apparently the cranes arrived outside the Gate earlier in the week but we've had rain. On Friday, the paper said:

Towering waves and high winds continue to hamper the efforts of a ship delivering two giant cranes to the Port of Oakland. The cranes are anchored about two miles off the coast, near Drakes Bay in Pt. Reyes.

The crew of the vessel Zhen Hua 1 managed to lower the apex of one of the cranes Thursday but were unable to lower the second crane, pushing back the machines' arrival until Saturday, said Port of Oakland spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur.

The paper said they planned to go under the Bay Bridge at 12:50 and just as we were finishing breakfast, the TV switched to live coverage. Although the paper had implied that traffic would merely be slower to 5mph during the procedure,, apparently they had the sense to stop it entirely and keep all traffic off the bridge while the barge went under. That also made the bridge a little higher above the water (and flatter).

Giant Cranes Clear Bridge ( in category In The News ) - posted at Sat, 05 Mar, 20:28 Pacific | «e»