Townsend is Stopover for Huge Mega Load Over Weekend
 | Author:
Nancy Marks and Matt Nelson
MT43 News Correspondent |
Townsend is Stopover for Huge Mega Load Over Weekend
Nancy Marks and Matt Nelson
Town and rural residents were amazed at the enormous size of a mega load that stopped here over the weekend. OxBo Transport Solutions of Scappoose, Oregon, pulled into Townsend Thursday night carrying a 360,000-pound boiler bound for an energy plant outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The 4-unit rig travels about 15 miles per hour during the night hours to avoid as much traffic interruption as possible. Each trailer has hydraulic equipment onboard with 12 axles and 4 wheels on both sides making a total of 96 wheels. Each axel can rotate independently as the lead tractor makes turns.
The crew of eight coordinates with the Montana Highway Department and the Montana Highway Patrol and Northwestern Energy to close roads and lift power lines as the 23-foot-high load passes under. Northwestern Energy alerted customers to nighttime power outages during the portage. Northwestern employee Lance Kidder explained: “We will be making the power lines safe so they can move this big load through. Every time the lines cross the highway, we have to raise them. We have an 8-man crew with 4 drivers and 4 ground guys, along with the guys we use for pilots with 20 to 30 extra people.”
According to branch manager, Andy Hulings, the boiler arrived from Korea where it landed at the Port of Vancouver. There it traveled by barge up the Columbia River to Umatilla, Oregon. where OxBo crews prepared the 180-ton boiler for transport. “Including the boiler, the entire transport unit with tractor trailers weighs in at 1 million pounds,” Hulings said in a phone interview.
Hulings is the transport company’s route planner and operations manager. He explained this load is 28 feet high. The entire length including the assist tractors is 400 feet.
Mega loads such as this one travel on state highways to avoid the Interstate highway as much as possible. It traveled up Highway 12 to the Helena airport, then to the Lyons Creek rest area on Interstate 15 North. From there it moved on Highway 200 to Boman’s Corner, then north to cross the US-Canada border at Coutts, Alberta. The load had come to Townsend from Dillon via Twin Bridges and Whitehall to Three Forks.
Several Townsend residents curious to see the huge transport, met the load as it arrived Thursday night, according to one Facebook post. Matt Graham, manager of the potato cellars on Front Street, said OxBo had contacted him in advance for parking privileges. Typical of Townsend's friendliness and generosity, Graham said he did not charge the company for parking the rig in the potato cellar parking lot.
Hulings reported the transport company hauls mega loads all over the country. “We’ve not had much trouble with vandalism, but we do include security if needed,” he said.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Matt Nelson and Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Townsend hosted a 180-ton boiler on a mega load traveling to Canada over last weekend.
Photo Credit: Nancy Marks
Image 2 Caption: Part of the 96 wheels on the mega load transported by OxBo Transport Solutions of Scappoose, Oregon.
Photo Credit: Nancy Marks
Image 3 Caption: The mega load begins its journey north around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, shown here near Townsend Flooring.
Photo Credit: Matt Nelson
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