October 23, 2015
Massachusetts

Trucks to begin early morning delivery of turbine parts Monday

By MICHAEL J. RAUSCH | The Enterprise | October 23, 2015 | www.capenews.net

Huge trucks carrying wind turbine components to a proposed wind farm in Plymouth will begin passing through Bourne early Monday morning, October 26, and will continue the morning deliveries for the next couple of weeks. The oversized vehicles carrying the components will come through Bourne on their way to the project site located off Head of the Bay Road, just over the town line.

A total of 36 vehicles will be used to transport the individual parts for four wind turbines to Keith A. Mann’s cranberry farm off Head of the Bay Road in Plymouth. Bourne Police Lieutenant Brandon M. Esip said that delivery of the turbine parts will take place between the hours of 1 AM and 5 AM. The empty vehicles will leave between the hours of 9 AM and 11 AM. No more than two trucks will deliver each night. Deliveries will be made Monday through Thursday and take several weeks to complete.

Lt. Esip reported this week that the route for bringing the turbines to Bourne had changed for a third time. Now, all of the trucks will come by way of Route 25. They will still access Head of the Bay Road by turning right off Belmont Circle. The original delivery route had 24 of the vehicles coming down Main Street, around Belmont Circle and up Head of the Bay Road. The remaining 12 would come by way of Route 25. Last week, the route was changed to have the 24 trucks set to use Main Street instead travel on Route 6/28, better known as the bypass road which runs parallel to Main Street, to reach Belmont Circle.

Lt. Esip said the vehicles will have a state police escort from the Port of New Bedford to the project site in Plymouth. Bourne police will assist with traffic control, he said. Once the delivery trucks are in the area of Belmont Circle, all traffic will be stopped from Head of the Bay Road, he said.

Bourne police officers will block access to Head of the Bay Road from Bournedale Road, Plymouth Lane and Puritan Road, he said. He also said that it is anticipated traffic will be impacted for approximately 30 minutes during each delivery. The departure route will be the reverse of the delivery. Trucks leaving are expected to have a similar impact to traffic.

“We suggest that anyone usually traveling along Head of the Bay Road during the travel and departure times seek an alternate route if possible to avoid delays,” Lt. Esip said.

Project coordinators have said that the heaviest trucks would be those carrying the base for a turbine. The gross weight of that vehicle has been estimated at 140 tons, with a length of 178 feet and a width of approximately 16 feet. Town officials had expressed concerns that the tree canopy on Head of the Bay Road, which has been designated a “scenic road” by the town, could be damaged by the oversized vehicles.

The Bourne Board of Selectmen, at its September 30 meeting, made approval of the delivery route contingent on Bourne Department of Public Works director George M. Sala, in his role as town tree warden, being satisfied that the tree canopy would not be damaged by the trucks.

Mr. Sala traveled the route last week with representatives of the applicants, Future Generation Wind LLC and Consolidated Edison Solutions. He said that he was satisfied there would be no damage done to the tree canopy.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/10/23/trucks-to-begin-early-morning-delivery-of-turbine-parts-monday/