Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘Superload’ draws spectators
Three-truck caravan moving 454,000-pound autotransformer
“We’ll be taking up the whole road with lots of ups and downs.” MONTANA MCCARTY, the “superload” driver.
PRAIRIE GROVE — Jeremy Dersam had Thursday off work.
So what better thing did he have to do than watch a 1 million pound “superload” being hauled through Prairie Grove?
The caravan was the length of a football field and crept along at about 10 miles per hour. The police escort shunted cars onto side roads when the 19-foot-wide convoy blocked two-lane highways. It caused a stir and periodic traffic jams.
“It’s an event,” Dersam said, “like a mini-parade.”
A 454,000-pound autotransfomer is being hauled 56 miles from Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s Tontitown substation to a substation southeast of Siloam Springs, said Peter Main, a spokesman for the company. The additional weight comes from the trailer and
three trucks — one pulling and two pushing the load, he said.
The trip will take two days. The autotransformer is scheduled to be at the Siloam Springs substation before 3 p.m. today.
It’s taking the long way around.
Along U.S. 412 and Arkansas 16, the route would be only 23 miles, but a circuitous route was chosen mainly to avoid bridges that might not be able to withstand the weight, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
The department often grants permits for “heavy loads,” but this “superload” is rare because of its size, he said.
The autotransformer was a spare that had been at the Tontitown substation for 10 years, Main said. It will be used to step down voltage as part of the region’s electric system.
Dersam, who lives in Fayetteville, was waiting in the parking lot of the Dollar General store in Prairie Grove on Thursday afternoon, but the convoy appeared to be stuck in the distance on U.S. 62. Workers had stopped to add axles to better distribute the weight before crossing the Illinois River bridge. The trucks didn’t start moving again for an hour and a half.
Carlye Parkes of Prairie Grove said her kids got tired of waiting in the hot sun, so they went home. But she planned to wake them up early to watch the convoy begin today’s leg of the journey.
Earlier Thursday afternoon, the autotransformer crawled through Farmington, which is 3 miles west of Fayetteville. People gathered in parking lots along U.S. 62.
“It doesn’t take much to thrill us here in Farmington,” said Michelle Beeks, the school superintendent’s secretary, who was watching with several other people from the Farmington High School parking lot. Intermountain Rigging & HeavyHaul of Salt Lake City and H. Brown Inc. of Eunice, La., were hired to move the autotransformer for Southwestern Electric.
Montana McCarty was the designated driver.
McCarty said he wasn’t too worried. He’s hauled heavy loads many times before.
“It’s a hard move,” he said. “I mean, we’ve got some really hard obstacles. We’ll be taking up the whole road with lots of ups and downs.”
Some of those obstacles included sharp curves on twolane, rural roads like Arkansas 112 between Tontitown and Fayetteville, but the convoy took those with ease Thursday morning before merging onto Interstate 49 in Fayetteville, then exiting on U.S. 62 to Farmington and Prairie Grove.
The trip began at about 9 a.m. Thursday and was moving through downtown Tontitown on U.S. 412 about 40 minutes later. Utility trucks were out front to move power lines if necessary.
The superload stopped in Prairie Grove for the night.
Straessle said the Arkansas Highway Police realized early Thursday the convoy was longer than its permitted 300 feet. There was an extra trailer on the back, apparently for breaking, he said.
When the convoy stopped at the bridge in Prairie Grove to add axles, it was weighed and the new numbers were sent to bridge experts with the Highway Department in Little Rock to make sure the bridges could withstand the weight.
Straessle said the convoy was allowed to continue on its planned route, but the driver was ticketed and H. Brown Inc. was required to get a new oversize permit Thursday. He couldn’t say whether McCarty was the driver who was ticketed. The first permit cost $4,016 and allowed for a 300-foot-long caravan weighing 1,016,000 pounds.
The second permit, which cost $4,304, is for a 362-footlong caravan weighing 1,088,000 pounds, Straessle said. It will allow for a second truck at the front of the transport that the hauler said might be necessary today.
The autotransformer is scheduled to resume its journey around 9 a.m. today, Straessle said. It will take U.S. 62 west to Arkansas 59 at Summers, then north to Arkansas 244 and east to the substation.