Traffic was affected on regional highways Thursday as a massive piece of industrial equipment was hauled towards Fort McMurray.
A full day ahead of the posted schedule, a massive industrial vessel is carried through Grassland on Thursday afternoon by a Mammoet haul crew on its way to the Fort McMurray area. The massive piece of equipment was scheduled to take four days to get from Edmonton to its northern destination, travelling at a maximum of 60 kilometres per hour.
Weighing in at 440,000 kilograms — the equivalent of about 150 full-size pickup trucks — and supported by 192 wheels, the supersized load is described by Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors only as a "super heavy wide load." The vessel is 8.7 metres wide, 10.2 metres high, and 69.5 metres long, The convoy began on Wednesday, and was rolling through Grassland late Thursday afternoon a full day ahead of schedule. That schedule has the load reaching its northern destination on the night of March 9.
The large vessel left northeast Edmonton on Wednesday, heading towards Two Hills and then west, joining Highway 28 and stopping at the Radway rest area before heading north up Highway 63 and 55 through Grassland.
Highway 63 north
Provincial authorities are cautioning motorists travelling in the Fort McMurray area on Friday and Saturday to be aware of the convoy as it travels up Highway 63 on the last leg of the journey.
Throughout the journey, overhead power-lines had to be lifted to allow the load to pass under, and pilot trucks halted oncoming traffic on certain sections of the highways where the load covered the entire width of the road surface.
