Yvonne Lee said she left her home to do a little shopping Sunday when she saw people pointing and commenting on the aerial acrobatics of a Bell “Big Lift” helicopter – flitting in and out of the hills west of Orinda with something dangling from its belly.
“We’ve been hearing them off an on all day,” Lee said, the choppers ferrying equipment to a sliding hillside behind the California Shakespeare Theater site. “They look like buzzing dragonflies…”
The aerial acrobatics, first reported on our Facebook and Twitter pages when neighbors called about helicopter overflights west of town on Saturday, are part of an ongoing effort to shore up sloughing hillside beneath a transmission tower after a recent mudslide threatened to take it down.
Workers used helicopters and other equipment to survey and to bring in bucketloads of dirt and rocks to protect the tower, located in the hills above Gateway Boulevard just north of Highway 24.
Power in the area has not been affected by the work which, for now, is the best show in town.
You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. I hope they can buy some time.
Yes, kinda had the look and feel of a holding action… we shall see.
So I assume this is the reason for lane closure on Hwy 24 eastbound? Was out of town last week and off Monday so got a rude awakening last evening on the commute home
@Tim – we’re not totally sure that gear belonged to the PG&E effort but we’re sure getting an earful about it. … and welcome back!
24 has been a hot mess lately.
Now it’s tilting…It’s tilting away from Washington and toward Berkeley…but that’s also the general direction of Hawaii. OK, it’s clearly pointing to the Aloha state. I’m skipping SF altogether.