For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.
And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
The worksite
and elevator
A Sparky art photo of the elevator and Manny's skill
and a C-17 looking over the job
more looking
Next - remove the edge girder - here attaching the support cables
Next
Starting to cut the top
Using position 3 of the Nugget classification scheme
Cut almost complete
Cutting through the back side
Then Manny starts his lifting
Now the balancing act
and down
and down
and down
and Manny in the serious work position: position #42 on the Nugget scale
and gently laying it down
One segment gone
An example of position 8 on the Nugget scale - the sitting position
Wrapping the cables around the other girder
The a back hand cut
and a prone position cut
and the final cut
Lift and separate - just like the tv ad
Navigate away from the structure
and up a bit
and rotate over the top of the structure
and safely resting
and Sparky art
a happy Manny
Both sides completed
and Sparky catching the sun saying bye bye
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer