Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Photo Challenge - Signs of Spring, Picture III

For my last signs of spring picture I was looking for something that is uncommon. I did not want to settle for baseball or softball practices or people tending to gardens. I knew what I wanted and was fortunate to catch it this afternoon as I passed over the Roosevelt Bridge. Repairing of this unique wall happens each Spring just as the cherry blossoms start to come out (the new block are evident).



Above is the wall and the crane that is pulling out the damaged blocks and replacing them with the new or refurbished blocks. The blocks are concrete and are hinged together. This bridge spans the Potomac River, with DC on the east and Virginia on the west (the bridge is DC territory until the high water mark on the western shore). As you will see the west bound traffic is three lanes with one going into the off ramp...the east bound side at the time the picture was taken is four lanes wide.

Early in the afternoon the wall is moved so that the west bound traffic goes to four lanes for the outbound rush hour. Normally the wall moves at noon but with the repair underway, at 2 PM it was not yet moved.

Below is the machine that moves the blocks to the north side each afternoon and then south mid evening for the inbound rush hour the next morning.



5 comments:

Christian said...

The Tappan Zee Bridge has one of those devices as well. It is interesting to see in action.

I very nearly had a awesome photo challenge, but it was up for dispute within my household. I am fairly certain that a bug smashed on my windshield the other day. Someone else suggested it was bird droppings, but from my angle it really looked like a smashed bug. The only problem now is it is virtually gone from the rain!

Dave said...

Christian, there is still plenty of time to post other pics that represent signs of spring.

Barbara said...

LOL! Christian. That would have been an interesting photo. You could have had a poll along with it to ask people what they thought it was.

Jenn said...

haha - it's like toronto - there are 2 seasons, winter and construction

Catharine said...

Still working on mine...