When 18 wheels are not enough!

[In_The_Wind]

It was just after 7am. on August 16th, 2011, when this 285 ton anode made it's way over the Roosevelt Lake Bridge on Arizona Highway 188. This anode was on the final leg of it's long slow journey from Salt Lake City to the Freeport-McMoRan copper and gold mine in Miami, Arizona. It was reported that the anode weighed 285 tons and it's tranport rig stretched 225 feet. Proof that this was a heavy load can be seen as the load progresses across the bridge. Watch the concrete walls and the fencing on them and you will see their upward arch flatten out as the load crosses!

[Brother Buzz]

1. When 18 wheels are not enough sometimes you have to stop for donuts.

[In_The_Wind]

2. I hate night moves!

Cool photo

[Brother Buzz]

3. The upside to night moves: They park in the daytime

An electrical transformer of enormous proportions was moved through my area, and they parked it when the sun came up. I went down to have a look-see and lost track counting tires somewhere north of two-hundred! It was fun figuring out the whole rig and how it was steered with huge servomotors.

[lastlib]

4. Wow!

That's cool! I didn't know anything that heavy (or that long) could possibly be moved by truck. I would imagine that very few bridges (or roadways, either) could support such a load!

[In_The_Wind]

5. Surveying the trip and getting the permits must have taken a while.

Here we see the 285 ton anode running it's last mile of a trip that started in Salt Lake City, UT. In the first scene we see the Precision Heavy Haul team making the turn from Arizona Highway 188 onto the US 60 in Claypool, AZ. I thought this turn was going to be a troublesome one for them, but you could tell this wasn't their first rodeo! Arizona DPS officers blocked off the intersection and within 5 minutes the anode was through and traffic was flowing again. Scene two shows the load entering the Freeport McMoRan mine complex in Miami, AZ. An interesting thing to note, is as the load is climbing the very steep grade at the mine, the driver of the lead truck lifts the rear most and unpowered axle on his rig for more traction on his drive axles. The entire set up was reported to be 225 feet long, with the anode itself weighing 285 tons. This was shot on 8-16-11.

The largest load I been involved with moving was only 20 foot wide and 168,000 tons.

[lastlib]

6. 168,000 tons??

(That's 50 Apollo/Saturn rockets, fully fueled! sez the ex-space-nerd..... ) .

[In_The_Wind]

7. I've still have a copy of the permit around here somewhere.

(((This year I'll get everything back in the file cabinet.
Moving is a real pain in the tush when one is downsizing.)))

It was a night move out of Canada using several Canadian Police cars, Canadian private escort cars and only two US escorts. We picked up more escorts at the border before moving across upper NYS during daylight hours. The piece of equipment was shipped out of Houston Texas about 2 months later.

[In_The_Wind]

8. I think that's what it was.

I'll get back to you asap

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Um, maybe 168,000 pounds ?

That's like when Willie Nelson was reported to have run a 1,000 kilometer race in a few hours ...

[In_The_Wind]

10. It was almost 6 years ago ...

It could have been pounds not tons.

[Brother Buzz]

11. The 340-ton 294-foot-long "Levitated Mass" required more than 100 permits

It was a Herculean task for the engineer who spent a year mapping the route, and pulling the permits. I recently watched the full documentary on Netflix. One memorable scene was with the engineer talking about his trials and tribulations leading up to the event, surrounded by all the permit books filling the a huge boardroom table, "If that rock was just three inches shorter...".

[In_The_Wind]

12. That was really interesting. Thanks!

It really is interesting seeing what goes into moving things.


At first it was fun moving super loads as a pilot car driver. Then it became too many days traveling at 15 mph. Too many nights in motels all across America. I'm glad to be home at night, doing the shorter escort jobs when the weather is warm.

[Blue_Tires]

18. They moved a 340-ton rock for an art project?

[Brother Buzz]

19. Not just any rock. It took thirty years to find 'The Rock',

The reclusive artist, Heizer, was Hell of a salesman.

[hunter]

13. I noticed there was a turkey vulture on hand...

... you know, in case something bad happened.

If it was me, I think maybe I'd rig up some sort of remote control unit to drive that mass over the bridge.

[sharp_stick]

14. I know the engineers went over that bridge

to make sure it could take the load but I'll bet the drivers heart rate picked up just a smidge when he got some tires on it.

That was a cool video.

[In_The_Wind]

17. I know I stay off the bridge when a heavy load is crossing.

The bridges are supposed to be safe but sometimes

http://www.newschannel9.com/news/top-stories/stories/update-1-dead-several-injured-after-partial-bridge-collapse-i35-texas-16038.shtml

[A HERETIC I AM]

15. Found it! I wanted to share this vid with you - 640 Ton Steam Generator move

I had read where they planned for this for over a year in advance. They had to rebuild/strengthen a couple bridges and if I am not mistaken it went on two barges during the trip.

They had to fill in the median of a freeway to allow it to go up and over entrance/exit ramps in order to by pass the freeway overpass on the route.

Of all the trucking discliplines, this is one I would like to have a go at.

At the end of it, this must have run in excess of $500 per mile. I'm probably way off, though. On the shy end!

[In_The_Wind]

16. Cool! That was a well executed pain in the neck move crossing the highway.

I've found myself holding my breath when there's a ditch the driver must avoid while turning corners. We had to fill one shallow barditch with railroad ties down in Tennessee.

The moving cost is all figured into the bid for the job. Many of the smaller specialized trucking companies are becoming a thing of the past due to the extreme competition for business.

If you want to give it a try I happen to know of a good company down in Gainesville. The driver I escorted a few times this winter has been with them over 15 years. He seemed happy. His wife travels with him.

My bills were paid promptly.