Agriculture pilot reported a near miss with power lines that were obscured by smoke and haze while performing aerial application of fertilizer. The pilot mis-judged the distance to the power lines; decided to fly under the power lines and was able to avoid hitting the power lines during the maneuver.

Narrative

I was in the process of aerial application (part 137) and was forced to cross a highway at low altitude because of aircraft weight and a cross country power line. I was coming south toward the highway and the cross country wire spraying corn. As I approached the highway and wires I realized that I could not make it up and over the wire without hitting it. I saw that there was sufficient room to go under the wire and avoid a wire strike and accident. In doing so I had cross in front of traffic on the highway at low altitude and a lot closer than I wanted to. Once I knew I couldn't make it over the wire I was watching traffic and started a left turn to avoid the highway traffic and get to a better place to pass under the power lines. I not expecting that I wouldn't be able to make it over the power line but because of speed and weight of the aircraft. Another contributing factor to this event is heavy haze in the area from the wildfire smoke. Because of the haze depth perception with the power lines was off and they blended in with the haze in the area. After this event I started pulling up a lot farther in advance and I am trying to avoid this situation ever happening again. Chain or events: aerial application and having to cross a highway with cars on it at low altitude and go under a wire. Contributing factors were aircraft weight and speed along with the smoke/haze causing the wires to blend in. The corrective action is giving more room to wires and wire avoidance. Human performance: my perception that the wires were farther away until it was too late to go over them caused me to make a judgment call and go under the wire and over the highway to avoid a collision with the power lines. The haze causing depth perception to be off didn't help this situation.