Superload will slow traffic across Pennsylvania for nine days on way to Lawrence County

A 294-ton, 213-foot-long superload will slowly make its way out of New York state and across 400-plus miles of Pennsylvania roadways for nine days.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reported that the journey started Wednesday night in West Milton, a hamlet in Saratoga County, New York, and is scheduled to end Jan. 21 at Alaron Nuclear Services in Wampum, Lawrence County.

The freight: An empty steel tank decommissioned in 1996 at the D1G Prototype reactor plant on the Naval Nuclear Laboratory's Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in West Milton. A PennDOT spokeswoman said the tank will be disassembled, recycled and disposed of by Alaron, which does low-level radioactive materials processing.

The superload is expected to cause traffic stoppages and delays as Perkins Specialized Transportation Contracting, of Becker, Minnesota, uses two traffic lanes for hauling. The convoy will move at the posted speed limit or 30 mph, whichever is lower. The majority of the transport is expected to occur at night, but activity could be affected or delayed by winter weather. 

The travel plan reaches 16 Pennsylvania counties and will feature ramp maneuvers and unusual traffic patterns, PennDOT reported. 

The superload will enter the state in Susquehanna County and follow Interstate 81 south to Interstate 80. It will follow I-80 west across much of Pennsylvania until veering northwest on Route 153 in Clearfield County, then moving north to Ridgway via Route 219. It will travel through Elk, Forest and Clarion counties on routes 948 and 66; catch Route 322 east to Franklin, in Venango County, and Route 62 west out of Franklin; pick up Route 173 south at Sandy Lake, in Mercer County, and reconnect with I-80 westbound just north of Grove City. It will complete the journey on Route 422, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and state and local routes.

A superload by Pennsylvania standards is a vehicle or combination with a nondivisible load that has a gross weight exceeding 201,000 pounds, or a total length exceeding 160 feet, or a total width exceeding 16 feet.

Follow #PAsuperload22 on social media for updates.