Huge Hydro transformer takes long way home

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This article was published 15/12/2019 (1972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Call it the scenic route.

An enormous Manitoba Hydro transformer destined for service in the Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP) had to take a rather lengthy detour through the Southeast this past weekend in order to reach its destination safely.

The transformer needed to move from a manufacturing facility in south Winnipeg to the Riel Converter Station north of Deacon’s Corner.

Normally, that’s a 24-kilometre drive that would take a passenger vehicle about 25 minutes.

But the transformer had to take a three-day, 132-kilometre route to minimize risks to bridges, overpasses, and street lights.

“All other means of transportation have been thoroughly investigated and the over‐the‐road solution is the only feasible option available to safely move the transformers to the Riel station,” the Crown corporation stated in a release.

The route took the transformer—which is 34 metres (112 feet) long and 7.5 metres (25 feet) wide—southwest out of Winnipeg on Highway 3, through Oak Bluff and Sanford to Provincial Road 305, where it turned east and headed toward Ste Agathe.

Then it was up Highway 75 to St Adolphe, east down Provincial Road 210 to Highway 59, and through Ile des Chenes to the Perimeter Highway.

RCMP and Hydro staff escorted the transformer, which travelled at night to reduce traffic disruptions.

Tipping the scales at 179,000 kilograms (395,000 pounds), the transformer was placed atop a remote-controlled, self-propelled modular transport trailer with 320 tires with a top speed of eight km/h.

According to Hydro, a similar trailer was used to transport NASA’s Endeavor space shuttle through Los Angeles in 2012.

The transformer set out last Thursday at 8 p.m. and reached its destination last Sunday at 4 a.m.

It will enable the power line, currently under construction, to connect to the Crown corporation’s 230 kV transmission grid.

Two other transformers will be moved in a similar fashion over the coming weeks, a Hydro spokesperson said.