Refraction of Sunlight on a Kiewit Crane Creates Potential Air Disaster in LA's Sepulveda Pass
On January 29, 2012, I visited the Mulholland Drive Bridge
replacement project and got a close-up look at progress there.
Starting in Hollywood on a clear afternoon, I drove Mulholland Drive
until its intersection with Interstate I-405. There I traveled west across the remaining north side of the Mulholland Drive Bridge. After parking my car and surveying the scene, I soon found a perch that overlooked the freeway and construction project.
With
the natural light on my back, the late afternoon sunshine provided good
visual contrast at the ongoing project. Along with the remaining
half-bridge, new support structures and construction cranes fought for
dominance of the scene. The Kiewit cranes had the upper hand, with
their great, latticed booms dominating the vertical scene. Less than
half as tall as were the twin derricks, massive new freestanding
bridge-supports imparted strength and security to the scene.
Each of the massive crawler cranes had a cab painted in the signature gold color of Liebherr Cranes,
a German manufacturer. That company, through its U.S. affiliate offers
a wide range of mobile and fixed construction cranes. Each of the
Sepulveda Pass cranes crane had a single latticed boom, which could be
up to 89-meters (226 ft.) in length. With its boom painted black and
sporting a white tip, the west-side crane created a high visual
contrast against a clear Los Angeles sky. At that time, the east-side
crane stood in full sun. After lifting a load with the crane, an
operator came out of the golden cab and stood upon the huge crawler
treads.
On the east-side crane, I could see the bridge contractor’s logo, with the name Kiewit
painted boldly on the side of the long cab. Since the Mulholland Drive
Bridge project required demolishing and rebuilding the bridge one-half
at a time, these cranes shall see service at this site for years to
come. Rather than simply leasing them for this job, it appeared that
the contractor had purchased both of these cranes.
For some reason, I kept looking back to the golden crane on the east
side of the freeway. Since so much of sunlight falls into the yellow
and gold portions of the visual spectrum, the entire crane appeared to
glow in the lengthening light. To me, the huge crawler crane appeared
as a beautiful piece of kinetic sculpture. If I starred at it long
enough, the golden crane virtually disappear into the scattered light
of the sky. A shake of my head brought the skyward-reaching boom back
into focus.
Before
I departed the west side of the bridge, I stopped to take a picture of
the lane closure created by the partial demolition of the bridge. When I
turned the camera from horizontal to vertical, I realized that an old
friend was standing guard there both day and night. It was Coney the Traffic Cone,
of course. Too shy to speak, Coney had stood there for months hoping
that someone would notice him as he warned motorists that half the
bridge was missing.
When it was time to leave, I drove east across the bridge and then
headed for the northbound on-ramp of the I-405. That ramp has a
straight downhill run and enters the freeway just south of the summit
and the bridge replacement project. As I descended the ramp and then
drove under the bridge, I fired my camera shutter repeatedly. After
entering the freeway, I stopped shooting as I passed close to the
east-side golden crane.
Later, I uploaded my photos and began writing this article. As usual, I
selected the pictures first and then wrote the text to match. It was
then that
I discovered the incredible disappearing crane. As you view the
accompanying animated GIF image, you will see four frames in which the
golden crane fades into the northern sky. Whether the golden crane
poked through the veil and into another dimension, I cannot say. Perhaps it was simple refraction and diffusion of sunlight through the golden lattice boom of the crane.
Once I got over the metaphysical possibilities
inherent in the scene, I realized that no matter the cause, the
beautiful golden crane was a hazard to aircraft flying near the
Sepulveda Pass. Although there are minimum elevation restrictions for
commercial and private aircraft in Sepulveda pass, Kiewit’s Golden
Crane still represents a danger to public safety.
Police chases on the freeways of Los Angeles are a regular occurrence.
The first line of defense is the police cruiser or perhaps a CHP
cruiser. Following in the air, is usually an LAPD helicopter.
Above that, typically there are several TV news helicopters. With the
golden crane disappearing into the haze of the northern sky, a
Sepulveda Pass police chase could easily become an air disaster. If the angle of the sun is right, the pilot of a fast moving helicopter might not see the crane until it is too late.
As
beautiful as the golden crane may be, it should be lowered and its boom
repainted in high contrast black, with a white tip, just like the
crane on the west side. Until then I will not sleep easily knowing that
there is a huge Kiewit crane materializing and then dematerializing next to the busiest freeway in Los Angles.
By James McGillis at 05:35 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link
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