The spectacle Saturday of two giant cranes squeezing under the Bay Bridge on the way to the Port of Oakland brought traffic along the span to a crawl and drew dozens of curious onlookers to Treasure Island.
The California Highway Patrol slowed traffic in both directions as a precaution about 12:50 p.m., while the 1,500-ton cranes perched on a ship passed within 5 feet of the underside of the bridge.
Caltrans officials said the measure was necessary in case the cranes struck the bridge.
Less than an hour earlier, the cranes, flanked by a flotilla of small sailboats, made their way under the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a higher span than the Bay Bridge.
The large $7 million Panamax cranes had spent the last few days 2 miles off the coast near Point Reyes as officials waited for nice enough weather to keep the waters calm for the passage.
Terry Walker of Alameda came to Treasure Island with his wife, Kathy, and his dog, Lucy, to see the cranes make their way to the port. "It's an engineering spectacle," he said.
As the humans looked on in wonder, Lucy slept in the shade under a metal bench.
At 241 feet, the cranes will be the tallest at the port. Their placement is part of a $620 million improvement plan that has doubled the port's capacity over the past five years, port officials said.
source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/06/BAGDTBLAIS1.DTL&type=printable 6mar2005
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