A 60-wheeler made its way through San Bernardino County earlier this month, conveying a 274-ton pressure vessel that was manufactured in Paramount in Los Angeles County to its ultimate destination in Boulder City, Nevada.
Manufactured by Wagner Plate Works West Company, formerly known as Pressure Vessel Technologies, the 180-foot-seven-inch-long, 18-foot-six-inch-wide, 21-foot-11-inch high, 548,450 pound cylindrical tank is to be used by the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Low Lake Level Pumping Station at Hoover Dam.
Along the way, it was escorted by the Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies. Because of its height, it had to wend its way around, rather than under, numerous bridges and underpasses. At several spots along its route, local utility workers either lifted or disconnected electrical or communication lines so the massive object could pass below them.
Memphis, Tennessee-based Barnhart Crane & Rigging, which has a Long Beach yard that serves as the branch headquarters for that company’s Western U.S. operations, was recruited to transport the vessel.
In doing so, Barnhart placed the vessel on a bed supported by ten carriages of four-wheel axles. At the front and the back were ten-wheel tractors used to both push and pull the load.
Manufactured by Wagner Plate Works West Company, formerly known as Pressure Vessel Technologies, the 180-foot-seven-inch-long, 18-foot-six-inch-wide, 21-foot-11-inch high, 548,450 pound cylindrical tank is to be used by the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Low Lake Level Pumping Station at Hoover Dam.
Along the way, it was escorted by the Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies. Because of its height, it had to wend its way around, rather than under, numerous bridges and underpasses. At several spots along its route, local utility workers either lifted or disconnected electrical or communication lines so the massive object could pass below them.
Memphis, Tennessee-based Barnhart Crane & Rigging, which has a Long Beach yard that serves as the branch headquarters for that company’s Western U.S. operations, was recruited to transport the vessel.
In doing so, Barnhart placed the vessel on a bed supported by ten carriages of four-wheel axles. At the front and the back were ten-wheel tractors used to both push and pull the load.
The itinerary for the trip was worked out and timed in advance, such that most of the traveling occurred at night, as its width often required that there could be no traffic in opposing lanes. Furthermore, turns presented a logistical challenge at many crucial spots along the trip. Care had to be taken as well along several spans of the journey, as the sheer weight of the payload represented a hazard to the road’s asphalt.