The Week of May 7, 2018–What a Week!!!!!! Cranes, Steel, and Concrete Floors

The week began like any other week. We pretty much knew what the week would entail: cranes hoisting steel, welding, electrical, decking, rebar, pipefitting, and a host of other things related to construction. In the morning of  May 7, 2018, a long low bed truck arrived on site carrying a 218,000-pound column, which would be set along the west end of the podium. The truck driver told me that he left the steel fabricating plant on Saturday night and arrived in the yard on Monday morning. This was the last of the columns for the quadrant. Once set, the infill could be hung and the decking scattered on the fifth floor. The heavy column was offloaded on Monday afternoon, but would not be set until Wednesday afternoon. Wow, come Tuesday morning, I, along with many others on site, were in for a huge surprise!  The Liebherr 1750, crawler crane “Cheese” was being dismantled. WHAT!!!! We knew that the crane was slated to be dismantled and taken to the new Ram Stadium construction site in Inglewood, California.  However, it was thought that the move would be around the end of May. We soon learned that with the last double node spline beam having been set, the need for the high capacity crawler crane wouldn’t be needed. Boom height was what would be needed to top out the project. So, the Liebherr 1750, crawler crane, with a 250-foot lattice boom, would be swapped out for Manitowoc MLC300, crawler crane with a 325-foot lattice boom and 200-tons of counterweight.  Paul, the field superintendent for the Bragg Crane and Rigging Company told me that as soon as sections were loaded onto the transport trucks,  the drivers headed directly to the Rams Stadium site. By late Thursday afternoon, Paul and crew had completed erecting the crane. At 6:00 AM on Friday morning, large flat bed trucks rolled onto the site and were off loaded by two smaller cranes. By noon, all of the parts for the cranes had been laid out. Around 5:45 PM, the erection of the crane had been completed and the tip was resting on the ground.

The yellow vertical line is where the “TARDY” column will be set. With the setting of the column this section can now be topped off at the fifth floor, thus completing the first quadrant of the pedestal.

Here Yesterday, Gone Tomorrow

The South Crane “Cheese” is Gone; Gone to Ram Stadium

Along With the Other Ones.

Unbeknownst to me, this would be the last photo I would take of “Cheese”  while in operation. The following morning, the crew from Bragg Crane & Rigging began to dismantle the crane. In the foreground, a 218,000-pound crane had arrived, a few hours prior, from Wisconsin.

The following morning when I arrived, the first photo I wanted to take was a wide angle shot from the upper drive above the yard. After snapping the photo, I looked to my left (center left in the photo) and noticed there were two smaller cranes hovering around “Cheese” with booms up. Then, I noticed the butt of the lattice boom was all that remained connected to the carriage: The crane was being dismantled.

I quickly made my way to the south yard where the crane was located. With booms raised, the smaller telescopic cranes like vultures were picking and plucking boom sections and lifting the pieces on to the long flat beds.