Megaload will travel through Libby, Troy
A giant load of refinery equipment will be rolling through Lincoln County early next week.
Montana Motor Carrier Services Division project coordinator Brad Marten said although the exact time is difficult to pin down due to fluctuations with the carrier, the load will be transported during the early-morning hours of either Sunday, Aug. 17 or Monday, Aug. 18. He said it would take one night.
It will take a roundabout route through the valley on U.S. 2, U.S. 93, Montana 40, Montana 206, Montana 35 and Montana 83.
The trucks will travel at night and have seven planned stages to travel through Montana to limit impact on traffic. Travel plans could change with inclement weather or other unforeseen problems, but one of the restrictions, Marten said, was that motorists are not allowed to be held back for longer than 10 minutes.
The permitted load is 21 feet, 1 inch wide and 16 feet, 9 inches tall and can be no more than 400 feet long. The length of the load will change depending on how many trucks are transporting it. For example, more trucks will be needed to haul the load uphill.
The load can weigh 1,086,500 pounds, or more than 540 tons, with all the trucks permitted. Those maximum load parameters include two pulling trucks and three pushing trucks, according to Montana Motor Carrier Division Administrator Duane Williams.
The transportation permit allows megaload to enter the state on Montana 200 before turning toward Troy on Montana 56.
From there, it will turn east on U.S. 2 through Libby and into Kalispell, where it will turn north on Meridian Road and head up U.S. 93. It will head east on Montana 40 through Columbia Falls and proceed south on Montana 206. The next leg is on Montana 35, turning onto Montana 83 just before Bigfork, and then the megaload will leave the Flathead Valley on the Seeley-Swan Highway before returning to Montana 200 for its last segment to Great Falls.
Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said although he personally was not informed of the megaload, he said he expects the transportation will likely go smoothly because of strict highway regulation.
County Commissioner Mike Cole said he is not overly concerned about the megaload because of the huge amount of oversight that he predicts is involved. He said the county commissioners have confidence that the load will be regulated safely through the county area.
County Commissioner Tony Berget said the megaload might be inconvenient for drivers, but he doesn’t think it will be a problem. If industrial interests in Montana require equipment upgrades, like the refinery in Great Falls, that is a good sign for the state’s overall economy, he said.
“If our state gets industries like that, it’s fine by me,” Berget said. “As long as they fix any damage immediately and leave no trace, I’m fine with it. If it helps out Montana, even if it’s not here, I support it.”
The equipment being transported is the first of three slated pieces of a “hydrocracker,” a massive refinery machine used to process Canadian oil sands, to be moved through Montana. It “cracks” thicker, lower quality gas oils with the help of hydrogen and a catalyst. This produces crude oil that can be converted to jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The pieces are part of a larger expansion by Calumet Montana, which aims to use the hydrocracker to create low-sulfur diesel.
Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay and water containing a dense form of petroleum known as bitumen (or tar). Alberta has an estimated 173 billion barrels of bitumen.
Activists have protested the transportation of the materials due to the fact that they contribute to the fossil fuel industry. Environmentalist groups protest the use of tar sands as a source of energy.
Protests have been scheduled in Idaho; one is scheduled for 9 p.m. Friday in Hope.
Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. will provide transportation, and Mountain West Holding Co. will provide traffic control.