Monday, June 7, 2010
Roads Aren't Wide Enough for Big Rigs, Idaho Outfitter, Writer Says
Tape measure in hand, Linwood Laughy took a drive last week up the Lochsa River from his home near Kooskia, Idaho. He tried to imagine a truck hauling a mammoth load of equipment up the winding mountain road, as a couple of mammoth oil companies foresee happening in coming weeks and months.Read more ... click here:
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Seems like supporters of sending this equipment across 12 either have never spent anytime on highway 12, have not seen the size of the rigs/equipment proposed to be used, or just doesn't care.
ReplyDelete207 loads, twice the size of a normal trailer, so heavy the crane at the port of lewiston can not lift them, and there is ZERO plan for what to do if the road crumbles and one of these things wind up in the river.
I like pulling over on the side of the road and checking out the scenery on highway 12. Booo! to the latest plan by Big Oil to turn highway 12 into a MEGA industrial truck route.
Anonymous said... I have been down your highway...and it is beautiful country. Being from Alberta, I have seen hundreds of mammoth loads hauled by Mammoet, Premay, and a half dozen other heavy haulers. Mammoet usually hauls the largest loads because they have the most specialized equipment including steerable trailers that are capable of spinning on a dime if necessary so I doubt that they will have any issues manouvering through your scenic route. And again, these trailers have so many axles and tires that the load on the highway is less lbs/sq ft than most trucks on the road. You get more damage to highways by loaded grain and gravel haulers. So if your highway is capable of handling gravel trucks, farm trucks hauling grain and semi trailers hauling fuel, etc....then it will definately hold up to the trailers that Mammoet uses.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I called you a wing nut, is because you are trying to make an issue about nothing. These trucks move at a pace of about 15 to 25 mph, so they will be in and out of your life in a couple of minutes. A couple of minutes multiplied by 200 loads equals approx. 400 minutes or 6.6 hours. There are 8760 hours in a year and if you are having trouble of the inconvenience of someone taking uo 6.6 hours out of your 8760 hour year....then you are way too busy!
In regard to the scary thought of something falling down your ravine and you have nothing to lift it....what do you think they are loading and unloading these vessels with? There are cranes that are capable of lifting these heavy loads. Just becasue there is not one in your back yard at the moment should not constitute a panic attack. If an occurrence happens, trust me, they will bring in something that will pick it up.
Again, stop making something out of nothing. This is the easiest and shortest route, if they could go through Canada, I am sure that would have happened. You have obviosly never driven the mountain passes from BC into Alberta. I trust that the people doing the route planning have made the correct calculations. As I said, I am from Alberta and have seen hundreds of these heavy loads make there way towards the oil sands and as far as I know there have been no incidences with them....so again stop your fear-mongering. They are not carrying any dangerous goods, only steel....lots of steel. And if you are worried about the diesel fuel in the trucks, then you really should get a list of the dangerous chemicals that rumble through your neighborhood everyday...diesel fuel is the least of your worries.