An Engineer’s Picture Postcard

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One day late last summer Larry Kruth appeared in my office doorway with a question: “Want to see some pictures?” Larry is the vice president of engineering, technology and safety at a steel company in Michigan. In addition to both growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, we share the opinion that one can never take too many photos. I wasn’t surprised, then, when his CD overflowed my computer screen with thumbnail images. (The number 158 sticks in my head.)

Larry had just returned from a field trip of the kind that most structural engineers only dream about — to the top of one of the Mackinac Bridge towers. And, of course, he had great photos.

Flipping through Larry’s photos reminded me of how much fun it was, as a child, to get a picture postcard in the mail, how my imagination just ran with the idea of interesting, faraway places. And again, I imagined myself there with him, 552 feet above the Straits of Mackinac.

We eventually figured out a way to share this experience, and his photo feature this month graces the pages of Modern Steel Construction magazine. I won’t give away any more of the story here — just take a look at http://msc.aisc.org/globalassets/modern-steel/archives/2012/05/2012v05_visiting.pdf, especially if you’ve ever dreamed about what it would be like to stand atop a suspension bridge tower.

“Having a great time—wish you were here!”

Thanks for sharing it with us, Larry.

But wait! There’s one more thing you should know. The file is a PDF, which allows you to appreciate Kristin Egan’s brilliant layout as well. To get the full effect, download and save the PDF file, then open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click on the View menu, move your cursor down to Page Display and select Two Page View. If you’re using an earlier version the terms may be slightly different, but it should work the same. Enjoy the view!

Note: Links updated November 20, 2015, to reflect reorganization of MSC site.