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Muscular West Coast Worker Is on Way to Build New Tappan Zee Muscular West Coast Worker Is on Way to Build New Tappan Zee
(7 months later)
PANAMA — The Left Coast Lifter is the Superman of floating cranes. PANAMA — The Left Coast Lifter is the Superman of floating cranes.
As long as a 30-story building is tall, it can hoist 1,900 tons in a single heave, or as the builders who will deploy the crane to speed up construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge like to say, the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty.As long as a 30-story building is tall, it can hoist 1,900 tons in a single heave, or as the builders who will deploy the crane to speed up construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge like to say, the equivalent of 12 Statues of Liberty.
But water is even stronger. On Jan. 15, the twin-boom Left Coast Lifter, which is said to be the world’s largest floating crane, was itself lifted roughly 54 feet above Pacific sea level in two stages at the Panama Canal’s Miraflores Locks, on its way from the West (“Left”) Coast to the Hudson River.But water is even stronger. On Jan. 15, the twin-boom Left Coast Lifter, which is said to be the world’s largest floating crane, was itself lifted roughly 54 feet above Pacific sea level in two stages at the Panama Canal’s Miraflores Locks, on its way from the West (“Left”) Coast to the Hudson River.
The ascending barge deck and the whirlpools around the hull were telltale signs that the locks — essentially the same ones used 100 years ago when the canal opened — were filling with water flowing from unseen culverts, each big enough to hold a New York subway car.The ascending barge deck and the whirlpools around the hull were telltale signs that the locks — essentially the same ones used 100 years ago when the canal opened — were filling with water flowing from unseen culverts, each big enough to hold a New York subway car.
Then, at the nearby Pedro Miguel Locks, the Lifter was raised about 31 feet more to the level of the canal’s main channel, which cuts through the isthmus’s emerald green hills.Then, at the nearby Pedro Miguel Locks, the Lifter was raised about 31 feet more to the level of the canal’s main channel, which cuts through the isthmus’s emerald green hills.
“Magnifico!” shouted Ramiro Villalobos, 73, as he leaned against a roadside barbed-wire fence with dozens of other drivers hurriedly emerging from their cars to gawk at the crane. “Its size — I’ve never seen anything like that.”“Magnifico!” shouted Ramiro Villalobos, 73, as he leaned against a roadside barbed-wire fence with dozens of other drivers hurriedly emerging from their cars to gawk at the crane. “Its size — I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Sam Wilson of Owensboro, Ky., in town for a convention, said he had come to see the century-old engineering marvel and got to glimpse a new one as well.Sam Wilson of Owensboro, Ky., in town for a convention, said he had come to see the century-old engineering marvel and got to glimpse a new one as well.
Pulled along by the tugboat Lauren Foss and the canal’s silvery locomotive “mules,” the Lifter took a half-hour to navigate each lock, three times the usual time. But the Lifter is not the sveltest of vessels — just 10 feet narrower than the 110-foot locks themselves — and required the finesse of a Panama Canal Authority pilot to thread the needle.Pulled along by the tugboat Lauren Foss and the canal’s silvery locomotive “mules,” the Lifter took a half-hour to navigate each lock, three times the usual time. But the Lifter is not the sveltest of vessels — just 10 feet narrower than the 110-foot locks themselves — and required the finesse of a Panama Canal Authority pilot to thread the needle.
After sailing through the main channel of the 48-mile canal and being dropped about 85 feet at the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, the engineless barge crane, chaperoned by two tugboats, headed north across the Gulf of Mexico and started up the East Coast. It is expected to arrive at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Thursday, and be moored in New Jersey until it is needed at the Tappan Zee in the spring. It will have completed a 6,000-mile voyage that began before Christmas in California, where it helped build the replacement for the earthquake-damaged eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.After sailing through the main channel of the 48-mile canal and being dropped about 85 feet at the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side, the engineless barge crane, chaperoned by two tugboats, headed north across the Gulf of Mexico and started up the East Coast. It is expected to arrive at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Thursday, and be moored in New Jersey until it is needed at the Tappan Zee in the spring. It will have completed a 6,000-mile voyage that began before Christmas in California, where it helped build the replacement for the earthquake-damaged eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
From the moment it entered the canal’s mouth on the morning of Jan. 12, the Lifter thrilled Panamanians accustomed to passage of mammoth cruise ships, battleships, container ships and even the occasional nuclear submarine. Journalists recorded the passage of the behemoth, which, in a supine position for transport, resembled a modest-size bridge with a tall A-frame. Scores of tourists mounted the balconies of the Miraflores visitors center to gape at the odd giant.From the moment it entered the canal’s mouth on the morning of Jan. 12, the Lifter thrilled Panamanians accustomed to passage of mammoth cruise ships, battleships, container ships and even the occasional nuclear submarine. Journalists recorded the passage of the behemoth, which, in a supine position for transport, resembled a modest-size bridge with a tall A-frame. Scores of tourists mounted the balconies of the Miraflores visitors center to gape at the odd giant.
“I’m amazed something so big can float,” said Jean Lonsdale, a 65-year-old traveler from England.“I’m amazed something so big can float,” said Jean Lonsdale, a 65-year-old traveler from England.
On its route between oceans, the Lifter passed landmarks of the canal’s bittersweet history: a French cemetery where are buried many of the thousands of workers who died from yellow fever and malaria in the late 19th century in the first unsuccessful attempt to hack a canal out of the jungle; the red tile-roofed stucco houses of the Canal Zone, established so the United States could complete the canal, which it did in 1914 (John McCain’s birth in that American colony did not disqualify him to run for president); flourishing Panama City, now a financial capital, whose forest of skyscrapers thickened after the canal was turned over to Panama in 1999.On its route between oceans, the Lifter passed landmarks of the canal’s bittersweet history: a French cemetery where are buried many of the thousands of workers who died from yellow fever and malaria in the late 19th century in the first unsuccessful attempt to hack a canal out of the jungle; the red tile-roofed stucco houses of the Canal Zone, established so the United States could complete the canal, which it did in 1914 (John McCain’s birth in that American colony did not disqualify him to run for president); flourishing Panama City, now a financial capital, whose forest of skyscrapers thickened after the canal was turned over to Panama in 1999.
Fernando Sucre, 61, a high-spirited canal engineer who gets a federal pension from the 30 years he worked for the Americans, said the crane’s passage, impressive as it was, also emphasized the canal’s importance in eliminating the need to travel around the sometimes tricky tip of South America or an Arctic passage.Fernando Sucre, 61, a high-spirited canal engineer who gets a federal pension from the 30 years he worked for the Americans, said the crane’s passage, impressive as it was, also emphasized the canal’s importance in eliminating the need to travel around the sometimes tricky tip of South America or an Arctic passage.
“You guys won’t go through Patagonia because that would be a disaster,” he said with a sly laugh. “Or else you have to wait for the ice to melt in Alaska.”“You guys won’t go through Patagonia because that would be a disaster,” he said with a sly laugh. “Or else you have to wait for the ice to melt in Alaska.”
For the privilege of crossing, the Lifter paid a toll of about $70,000, according to the Panama Canal Authority, which makes the $5 charge on the Tappan Zee seem like a bargain.For the privilege of crossing, the Lifter paid a toll of about $70,000, according to the Panama Canal Authority, which makes the $5 charge on the Tappan Zee seem like a bargain.
The crane will enable Tappan Zee Constructors, the consortium of four engineering and construction firms that has been contracted by the New York State Thruway Authority to build the $3.9 billion replacement bridge, to work faster and cheaper. According to Tom Madison, the authority’s executive director, the crane allowed the consortium to bid $800 million less than competitors.The crane will enable Tappan Zee Constructors, the consortium of four engineering and construction firms that has been contracted by the New York State Thruway Authority to build the $3.9 billion replacement bridge, to work faster and cheaper. According to Tom Madison, the authority’s executive director, the crane allowed the consortium to bid $800 million less than competitors.
Like a child assembling Legos, Tappan Zee Constructors will link large steel girders for the bridge deck and its supports, all on land, a more efficient and safer workbench than water. Those spliced modules, weighing 900 to 1,100 tons each, can be ferried out by barge to where they are needed and the muscles of the Left Coast Lifter — three diesel 806-horsepower generators driving cabled pulleys — can cleanly jerk them into position.Like a child assembling Legos, Tappan Zee Constructors will link large steel girders for the bridge deck and its supports, all on land, a more efficient and safer workbench than water. Those spliced modules, weighing 900 to 1,100 tons each, can be ferried out by barge to where they are needed and the muscles of the Left Coast Lifter — three diesel 806-horsepower generators driving cabled pulleys — can cleanly jerk them into position.
The crane will also allow for a speedier dismantling of the crumbling Tappan Zee, authority officials said, once the first of two new side-by-side spans is opened to traffic, scheduled for December 2016. (The second span is slated to open in 2018.)The crane will also allow for a speedier dismantling of the crumbling Tappan Zee, authority officials said, once the first of two new side-by-side spans is opened to traffic, scheduled for December 2016. (The second span is slated to open in 2018.)
The merged 6,750-ton contraption, whose assembly was completed in 2009 near Shanghai, is one of many novel pieces of consortium equipment that were not available in 1955, when the current Tappan Zee was completed, or in 1964, when the New York area’s last major bridge, the Verrazano-Narrows, opened. But by its sheer scale it may become an emblem for this 21st-century bridge. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who pressed for the project, wants to rename the crane the “I Lift New York.”The merged 6,750-ton contraption, whose assembly was completed in 2009 near Shanghai, is one of many novel pieces of consortium equipment that were not available in 1955, when the current Tappan Zee was completed, or in 1964, when the New York area’s last major bridge, the Verrazano-Narrows, opened. But by its sheer scale it may become an emblem for this 21st-century bridge. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who pressed for the project, wants to rename the crane the “I Lift New York.”
The crane made a theatrical, elegant entrance at the canal on Jan. 12, sweeping under the Bridge of the Americas, a cantilever span opened in 1962 to more effectively connect North and South America by road. On a waterfront bluff just north of the bridge, fishermen were timelessly weaving nets or napping in hammocks. But Moro Deciderio, 52, roused his companions.The crane made a theatrical, elegant entrance at the canal on Jan. 12, sweeping under the Bridge of the Americas, a cantilever span opened in 1962 to more effectively connect North and South America by road. On a waterfront bluff just north of the bridge, fishermen were timelessly weaving nets or napping in hammocks. But Moro Deciderio, 52, roused his companions.
“The thing is coming,” he shouted, inserting a Spanish vulgarism for emphasis.“The thing is coming,” he shouted, inserting a Spanish vulgarism for emphasis.
Leyda Oliviade Rodríguez, 54, selling freshly caught sea bass and red snapper just as she has for 30 years out of a ragtag cinder block and corrugated-tin-roofed shop, demurred. While pelicans and vultures waited to pounce on shreds of her gutted fish, she observed that the crane was not as impressive as a ship she once saw that had the shape of a cat.Leyda Oliviade Rodríguez, 54, selling freshly caught sea bass and red snapper just as she has for 30 years out of a ragtag cinder block and corrugated-tin-roofed shop, demurred. While pelicans and vultures waited to pounce on shreds of her gutted fish, she observed that the crane was not as impressive as a ship she once saw that had the shape of a cat.