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Giant fermentation tanks are lined up at Farley Vale Farm One of the 40 tanks is moved into position after being unloaded from a barge in November. They will be hauled 105 miles to Elkton. |
By RUSTY DENNEN
In the wee hours one day next month, a giant 13-axle trailer will pull onto State Route 3 in King George County, beginning a most unusual journey.
As big loads go, this will be one of the biggest ever to rumble along a Virginia highway, making the largest tractor-trailer look puny by comparison.
Coors Brewing Co. will truck 40 giant beer-fermenting tanks 105 miles from a staging area on Edward Taylor's Farley Vale Farm to the brewer's plant at Elkton in the Shenandoah Valley.
"This is pretty unusual," said Jim Cline, who is handling the logistics for the Virginia Department of Transportation. "We normally don't let oversize loads run in convoys, but they figured this would be the best way to get them in and out."
The shipments require a permit from the state Department of Motor Vehicles--that's in the works--and coordination with VDOT and power and phone companies. Some traffic signals and electric and telephone lines along the planned route will have to be raised or repositioned.
Lockwood Brothers Inc. of Hampton is handling the move. The company, which specializes in super-size loads, barged the tanks from Hampton Roads up the Rappahannock River last fall.
Made in Ziemann, Germany, Coors' stainless-steel fermenting tanks are 70 feet long and 19 feet in diameter, and weigh 78,000 pounds each. They look like rocket ships, positioned nose to nose in a field next to Route 3.
Lockwood explored several options for getting the tanks to the Valley, including by rail and by helicopter, but decided that overland would be the best method.
The company has told state officials that its special trailer, designed to carry 360 tons, can make the trip from King George to Elkton in about a day.
One test trip is planned, and if that goes well, the rest of the tanks will be trucked five at a time. A series of eight convoys is planned.
"All of the cogs are turning right now, so that on the day of the move everything is in place," Cline said.
"We've handled loads much heavier than these" on state highways, he said. But in this case, the diameter of the tanks is much greater than the standard lane width of 8 to 9 feet.
"So this is a pretty big challenge."
Since the shipments involve some of the Fredericksburg area's most heavily traveled roads--Route 3 and U.S. 1--the idea is to keep the behemoths moving to avoid the mother of all traffic jams.
"There will probably be a combination of day and night moves, when there's the least traffic," Cline said. Predetermined pull-off points will be scattered along the route in case there's an unforeseen backup.
Some low-hanging traffic signals are a problem.
"In Fredericksburg, there are a couple they are looking at that are giving [Lockwood] some heartburn," Cline said. The company has hired a signal specialist to help.
The exact dates and times of the shipments have not yet been set, said Aimee Valdez, spokeswoman for Coors in Golden, Colo.
The first shipment, "won't happen until near the end of February."
The convoys will head west on Route 3 to the Blue and Gray Parkway, then briefly north on U.S. 1 to avoid the overpass, then back to Route 3 and west through Spotsylvania, Orange and Culpeper counties. From there they will proceed on U.S. 29 and U.S. 33 through Madison, Greene and Rockingham counties, then via secondary roads to Elkton.
There have been other mega-loads traveling Fredericksburg highways.
"We've had some extra-wide vehicles and I think a home was moved in the wee hours one morning," said Tina Bundy, spokeswoman for VDOT. But this is different because of the sheer size and number of shipments.
The fermentation tanks will be key parts of Coors' first East Coast brewery, scheduled to open next year. The containers receive a pre-beer mixture called wort, to which the brewer adds yeast, converting sugars to alcohol.
Each tank can handle about 126,000 gallons of wort.
Coors hopes to produce up to 7 million barrels of beer annually, to match the Elkton plant's packaging capacity.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
