Waldo tunnel rainbow mystery solved

On Monday, we posted an article about the mystery paint job on one of the Waldo tunnel rainbows in Marin.

We spoke to Caltrans and got an answer about why there is only a couple feet of newly painted rainbow.

Chief spokesperson Lauren Wonder told us they are in the process of doing a tunnel 'overhaul' which will take about a month.

"We'll finish the rainbows over the next month. We're doing a whole concerted effort on the tunnel including washing the walls [inside] and removing graffiti.  We've got an old radio antennae we're going to take out and we'll power wash the tunnel face."

As to why there is only two feet of fresh paint, Wonder says they are "testing the colors."  Caltrans is working with a local Marin woman, a color consultant, who is donating her time.  She is giving them advice on the color match.

"She thinks it's a little too bright," said Wonder. 

Local businesses have contacted Caltrans about donating funds to get the tunnel bores painted and Caltrans is still figuring out a way to accept the donations and work out the collaborative effort.

Several years ago, someone got the idea to install colored tiles, but apparently they ran off with the donations.  Wonder says this was not a Caltrans project.

"We wouldn't have put up tiles anyway," she says, "the tiles could fall."

Here's to finding a pot of gold--or at least Marin--at the end of the rainbow.

Comments

[Jackson]

I like the bright colors. Besides, they will fade fairly quickly with the sun.

[Kevin]

That rainbow is missing one color, it only has six.
Roy G. Biv (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)

[Kat]

You are right, but it's just eye candy to enjoy, not a scientific display....the brighter the better!

[J]

How about using rainbow colored lights for the interior tunnel ceiling.

Example - how blue light is used and represented on the Boston Zakim bridge:

http://www.portlandart.net/archives/boston_Zakim_BR.jpg

[nicholascoley]

Yes, bright is good! I am an artist, a colorist,
and the others here are correct, it will fade soon.

[P]

i agree. bright colors are apropos.

[JEM]

I vote for putting in natural gas jets so we can have a perpetual ring of flame.

[sharon]

It really needs to be bright. Is she a color consultant for the Army?

[Al]

Jackson, there are only six colors in the rainbow - Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet. All the rainbow flags used for San Francisco's Pride festivities have six colors. The tunnels also have six colors. In any case, the rainbow is nice but not a necessity. It is appropriate that unnecessary decoration be paid for from private donations and not our tax dollars! It is time that government realizes that they have to stop waste in all its forms. Community members who want 'extras' should be prepared to pay for them from their own funds and not from tax payer funds.

[Sam Foster]

I think the color consultant is full of beans, the colors should be super bright.

I drive through that tunnel every day and the test swatch (which was my guess, doesn't seem to warrant the mystery label) look fine. And as another commenter mentioned, it's going to fade, so start bright bright bright.

[Tom]

Oh if this were only my biggest worry.

[mike lynnn]

Not that I have anything against the gay community, but this rainbow has nothing to do with them. It's been here for years.

[Brian]

I think Al hates all things that bring joy to people in life. Al, do you wish that the Golden Gate Bridge wasn't red?

[Jon]

Yes please get it right this time and use all seven colors.

[Abraham.Fagolavitz]

I don't think the Golden Gate should be red, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti said, it should be GOLD. The brighter the better...

[Jimmy]

Sharon,you're wrong. A rainbow has 7 colors.

[I wonder]

Don't you guys have anything better to do with your time than respond to this crap.
Only in Marin.

[nonie]

The Golden Gate Bridge is painted "international orange'. The color deemed most visible to ships wanting access to the Bay.

[pandaKrusher]

Paint it grey.

[Gee]

A rainbow is 7 colors: ROYGBIV - RED ORANGE YELLOW GREEN BLUE INDIGO and VIOLET. Ask any kindergartener this question - they will know that there are 7 colors in a real rainbow (where light is de-fracted). So Jackson is right about a true rainbow that you find in nature. Sharon is right that there are 6 colors in rainbows you find on marketing and commercial products, like stickers, flags, boxes of crayons etc. And why? Because probably it's cheaper to make.

And as far as I can remember that rainbow has been on that tunnel - more than 30 yrs or so?

[Scott Moyer]

color consultant for a rainbow? can't you just sing the song and know what you need?

[Play with Prisms]

Strictly speaking, the rainbow has every possible color in it, except black, white, and combinations of those two (i.e., gray).

[james]

you do know that a real rainbow reflects a continuous band of colors, right? the division into 6 or 7 discrete ones is arbitrary.

[Abe]

To "I wonder": apparently you don't have anything better to do with your time either.

[nm]

robin williams used to joke that the rainbows are a minority detector for marin county

[Simon LeChay]

Al, you're wrong. There are 7 colors in a rainbow!! Not 6. The 7 are -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

[Kmonk]

I think its a great idea, and the brighter the better! The "rainbow tunnel" is a great memory from my childhood.

But did they seriously have to hire a "color consultant" for this? It a RAINBOW- I'm thinking it doesn't require expert analysis to tell what colors belong in it.

[just aguy]

the rainbow is missing pink!

[steve re]

Sharon, you are worng and Jackson is right. White light when broken into its component parts by a prism contains 7 colors; the neumonic for remembering their order is as stated Roy G. Biv. Temperature wise red is the coolest and violet the hottest of visible light waves. All this from high school.somebody lerned roy g.Biv in kindergarten?? Wow!!

[mar456]

i thought for sure the answer would have been something about global warming and/or president bush's fault.

[D]

Roads are ugly. Stop putting lipstick on the pig with public money.

[james]

steve, are you saying that the sun's light has only seven wavelengths in the visible spectrum? or maybe that water vapor only reflects seven?

[M.Holmes]

Testing colors ? by the time Cal-Trans gets done with it this donated paint job will cost the taxpayers $100,000.....

[Mary Ann]

When the rainbows first mysteriously appeared on the tunnels, in the late 60s or early 70s, they were really beautiful. Pastel shades that blurred into one another, they were really well painted. These hard, narrow stripes are not any kind of depiction of a real rainbow and are a pale (so to speak) imitation of the original paint job. And the spectrum is generally divided into seven main colors, but of course there are infinite variants across the band. The idea that there are "six" colors is simply errant.

[Joe Lazar]

I like the tile idea, and if they are installed properly, they won't fall off.

[Rational Approach]

The Marin newspaper reports the following quotes from the "color consultant":
---------(quoting)
Belinda Hallmark, an architectural color and finish consultant, will help Caltrans select the paint that will be part of the refreshed rainbow. Hallmark believes the test paints put up by Caltrans are too bright, and she said she will seek something more subtle.

"It should be something that complements the surrounding environment and looks natural," said Hallmark, who is donating her time. "Caltrans showed me some pictures when the paint first went up and it was quite bright."
----------(end quote)

Folks, we need to speak up NOW to save the rainbow from becoming a wash of green, gray, and tan!

[Sean]

Bring back the mermaid.

[btinc]

7 colors in the rainbow? Don't be ridiculous. There are billions of colors in the rainbow.

However, there are 3 primary colors and 3 secondary colors, and what do you know, there they are.

[Karenn]

Rainbows are supposed to be bright. What's she smoking?

[Chuck Woolery]

They really oughtta put the rainbow on the SF-bound side & the heck w/ tradition. Maybe put dollar bills on the marin-bound side.

[Gryphonisle]

When a CalTrans worker first put up the rainbow he didn't consult a color consultant, pro bono or not. What's wrong with people today that they can't do something this simple without having to ask someone in a white coat for guidance?

[craig]

What happened to the honking that used to accompany being in the tunnel? Where have all the good times gone?

[zedly]

Interesting question - how many colors are there in a rainbow? When you look at one in nature, how many do you see? I think I usually only see four or five, depending on how well-defined it is. Does anyone know whether we are hard-wired or acculturated to see bands in the spectrum, say from a prism? It would be cool if the painted one on the tunnel could be a smooth gradient across the spectrum, instead of discrete bands.

[Abe]

I'm intrigued by Mary Ann's comment:

"When the rainbows first mysteriously appeared on the tunnels, in the late 60s or early 70s, they were really beautiful. Pastel shades that blurred into one another, they were really well painted. These hard, narrow stripes are not any kind of depiction of a real rainbow and are a pale (so to speak) imitation of the original paint job."

Does anyone have a picture of the original paint job? It would be nice to recreate the original version.

[Butch Pansy]

The "gay community" has been here much longer than the rainbows on the tunnells. We've ALWAYS been "here," an annoying fact of life for bigots and hate-mongers the world over. Personally, I don't do rainbow: way tacky. Lavender is also unsuitable for me; I'm an Autumn.

[Lady Jane]

Yes, yes, honking in the tunnel--let you know people were having fun! And the rainbow was there when I was a flower child so to me it signaled the entrance to the paradise of Mt Tam, Sausalito where the musicians lived, nude beaches and friendly back-to-the-land pot growers. Back before Marin got so Marin'd.

[Tricia]

Well said Chuck!!
However, it looks like the orange needs to be more "orangey"! It looks like yellow ochre.

[Marin]

So enough how about how many colors are in the rainbow... I like the fact that the focus wasn't to paint white over or remove the rainbow, so that's good... let's move on... About 30 years ago the thing to do while driving South through this tunnel towards the Golden Gate bridge was to hold your breath, lift your feet off the floor, make a wish, honk your horn repeatedly and when you see the rainbow in the rear view mirror you can breath again and your wish will come true. It's a silly little legend but that's what we did. I drove through recently and noticed no one repeating this method - maybe it's stupid but that's what you did as a local here. It would be nice to see people not so jaded. Let's bring this back - honk your horns!

[Toad]

Isn't it time for an electric arc to celebrate this new era of technology? Rainbows are so passe...

[Zsa Zsa]

Does this finally "mean" that Marin - which is essentially for the nouveau riche anymore --- is somewhat "gay" ? I mean, Sean Penn (MILK) lives there now -- but what does that mean anyway ?

Marin is pretentious, highly overpriced, and "precious". In other words --- USELESS !