Megaload to pass through Columbia Falls

The Montana Department of Transportation announced Monday that a huge truckload of petroleum refining equipment headed for the Calumet Refinery in Great Falls will pass through Northwest Montana as early as Aug. 18.

According to plans, the megaload will travel at night in seven stages across Montana to limit impact on traffic. Travel plans could change with inclement weather or other unforeseen problems, but delays for motorists are expected to be only 10 minutes.

Currently the megaload has been inching its way through Idaho while the hauling company awaits a permit from Montana. It will enter Montana on Highway 200 sometime next week before turning toward Troy on Highway 56. From there, it will turn east on U.S. 2, pass through Libby and continue on to Kalispell.

The megaload will then head north on Meridian Road and U.S. 93 before turning east on Highway 40 and continuing on through Columbia Falls. It will then head south on Highway 206 to Highway 35 and then down the Seeley-Swan Highway to Highway 200 for the last leg to Great Falls.

The permitted load is 21 feet, 1 inch wide and 16 feet, 9 inches tall and can be no more than 400 feet long. The length of the load will change depending on how many trucks used to move the load. More trucks will be needed to haul the load uphill. The load can weigh more than 1 million pounds.

Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. will provide transportation, and Mountain West Holding Co. will provide traffic control.

The planned route through Kalispell and the rest of the Flathead Valley will take one night, according to Montana Motor Carrier Division administrator Duane Williams. No traffic or street lights will need to be moved, he said, and the operation will be relatively quick and painless for all but the midnight drivers.

The petroleum refining equipment is the first of three pieces of a hydrocracker used to process oil from Canadian tar sands. The equipment will crack thicker, lower quality gas oils with the help of hydrogen and a catalyst to produce crude oil that can be converted to jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The equipment is part of a larger expansion by Calumet Montana, which intends to use the hydrocracker to create low-sulfur diesel. The remaining two pieces of the hydrocracker will be transported via Interstate 15.