TRANSPORT
SITEREPORT
Trucking the components
of theHighRoller required
meticulous scheduling and
heavy haul acumen.
C
omponents for theHighRoller
ObservationWheel inLas
Vegaswerehuge, heavy and
awkwardly shaped. Fabricated in theFar
East, the rim and support systemswere
shipped to thePort of LongBeach in the
order ofwhen theywouldbe erectedon
the jobsite.HeavyTransport, based in
LongBeach, CA,was selectedbygeneral
contractorAmericanBridge tohaul the
pieces toLasVegas in a time frameof just
under a year.
Since thePort of LongBeach is
practically inHeavyTransport’s back
yard, the company is very familiarwith
working at theport, according toKevin
Reese, operationsmanager. He saidhis
team approached the 68-load jobmuch
like theydowhenhaulingwind tower
components.
“Weusedourwind tower saddles,
whichworked reallywell for cradling and
tie-downof thepieces,”Reese said. “For
the rim sections,wewould loadout one
day and thendeliver thenext. In all, the
project involvedhauling some 6.3million
pounds of steel.”
Relatively simple
The rim sectionswere shipped into the
port six at a time. Theywere liftedoff the
ship andontoHeavyTransport’s trailer by
aport crane.
Hauling the
HighRoller
57
Whilehauling the 95,000-pound,
55-foot long rim sectionswas relatively
simple, hauling the center hub and leg
support sectionswas another story.
“Eachhubwas 20 feetwide andweighed
in excess of 300,000pounds,” saidReese.
“Themiddlehub sectionwas 80 feet long,
15 feetwide, loaded at 19 feet tall and
weighed250,000pounds.
For thesehauls,HeavyTransport used
their 10-axle ScheuerleWideCombi dual
lane trailer configuration. The route from
LongBeach toLasVegas had tobe altered
for the three super loads due toheight
andweight restrictions onCalifornia and
Nevada interstates, Reese said.
“Those loads requiredpolice escorts,
pilot cars andbucket trucks and took
about threedays to complete eachof the
threemoves,” saidReese.
For themost part, the componentswere
delivered to a staging area for immediate
building.
“Itwas a reallygoodhaulingproject for
our company,” saidReese. “Therewere
noproblems, and everythingwaswell
planned.”
Aswas reported in theMarch2014 issue
of
ACT
, theobservationmoduleswere
fabricated inColorado andhauled toLas
Vegas byEmpireTrucking. TheHigh
Roller is planned toopen inmid-April
2014.
■
Heavy Transport
hauled the High
Roller sections
much like they
haul wind tower
components.
Eachhubwas20 feetwide andweighed in
excess of 300,000pounds. Themiddlehub
section loadedout at 19 feet tall.
Theproject tohaul the rim andhub
componentswas a68-load job in a just
under one-year time frame.
Pick-up anddeliverywas performed in the
order the componentswereneeded for
constructionof thegiant observationwheel.
APRIL 2014
ACT
