Megaloads could roll through Bonner County
SANDPOINT — Megaloads could be rolling through Bonner County this spring.
The Idaho Transportation Department is considering a permit to move three sections of a massive piece of refinery equipment called a hydrocracker from a port in Stockton, Calif., to Calumet Refining in Great Falls, Mont.
Dutch heavy-hauling outfit Mammoet USA South has been contracted to move the hydrocracker segments through Idaho on U.S. Highway 95 and state Highway 200, according to a proposed travel plan presented to the Bonner County Area Transportation Team.
The industrial transports weigh 1.6 million pounds and measure 441 feet long, 27 feet wide and 16 feet high.
Upon entering Idaho, the loads would take U.S. 95 through Lewiston, Moscow, Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint. After crossing the Long Bridge, they would take the Sandpoint highway exit and proceed northbound up the Sand Creek Byway’s southbound off-ramp to gain access to Highway 200.
The size of the loads will prevent them from traveling on the initial northbound portion of the bypass and the Bridge to Nowhere on Highway 200 west of Hope. In the latter case, the loads will take the business loop through Hope and regain the highway at Centennial Boulevard in East Hope, according to Mammoet’s travel plan.
The loads, however, are expected to be able to pass through the curvy Icicle Cliffs area east of Clark Fork.
The dates of the loads are pending because an oversize load permit is still being developed by ITD. State highway officials said during a meeting in Coeur d’Alene last December that the loads will travel between 30-35 mph.
Travel times will be limited to 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., seven days a week (major holidays excluded).
A pilot vehicle will lead traffic around the loads on four-lane stretches of divided highway. In two-lane stretches, traffic will be held at predetermined holding areas for intervals not to exceed 15 minutes, the proposed travel plan states.
Three teams of flaggers will use “leapfrog” traffic control in two-lane stretches to limit traffic delays and the loads will yield to emergency-response vehicles.
Hydrocracking units upgrade low-quality heavy gas oils into high-quality, clean-burning jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At Calumet, the equipment will be used to create ultra-low sulfur diesel to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency clean-air standards.
However, the megaloads are drawing robust opposition from Wild Idaho Rising Tide, a Moscow-based group that confronts root causes of climate change.
“At this closest U.S. refinery to Alberta tar sands mining operations, these shipments would contribute to tripling refinery conversion of 10,000 barrels per day of Canadian tar sands crude into Rockies transportation fuels,” WIRT said in a Feb. 28 blog post.