A giant load of refinery equipment might be rolling through the Flathead Valley as soon as next week.

The Montana Department of Transportation announced Monday that the megaload — modules headed for Calumet Refinery in Great Falls — would move through Northwest Montana starting as early as Aug. 18.

It will take a roundabout route through the valley on U.S. 2, U.S. 93, Montana 40, Montana 206, Montana 35 and Montana 83.

The trucks will travel at night and have seven planned stages to travel through Montana to limit impact on traffic. Travel plans could change with inclement weather or other unforeseen problems, but delays for motorists are expected to be only 10 minutes.

The permitted load is 21 feet, 1 inch wide and 16 feet, 9 inches tall and can be no more than 400 feet long.

The length of the load will change depending on how many trucks are transporting it. For example, more trucks will be needed to haul the load uphill. 

The load can weigh 1,086,500 pounds, or more than 540 tons, with all the trucks permitted.

Those maximum load parameters include two pulling trucks and three pushing trucks, according to Montana Motor Carrier Division Administrator Duane Williams.

Currently the megaload has been inching its way through Idaho and waiting on a Montana permit. It will enter the state on Montana 200 sometime next week before turning toward Troy on Montana 56.

From there, it will turn east on U.S. 2 through Libby and into Kalispell, where it will turn north on Meridian Road and head up U.S. 93. It will head east on Montana 40 through Columbia Falls and proceed south on Montana 206. The next leg is on Montana 35, turning onto Montana 83 just before Bigfork. 

The megaload will leave the Flathead Valley on the Seeley-Swan Highway before returning to Montana 200 for its last segment to Great Falls.

The planned route through Kalispell and the rest of the Flathead Valley will take one night, Williams said. 

“It will stage west of [Kalispell] at the truck scales,” he said. “And it is planning to end at milepost 77 on Highway 83. It should be through in a night.”

No traffic or street lights will have to moved, he said, and the operation will be relatively quick and painless for all but the midnight drivers of the Flathead. 

The equipment being transported is the first of three slated pieces of a “hydrocracker,” a massive refinery machine used to process Canadian oil sands, to be moved through Montana. 

It “cracks” thicker, lower quality gas oils with the help of hydrogen and a catalyst. This produces crude oil that can be converted to jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The pieces are part of a larger expansion by Calumet Montana, which aims to use the hydrocracker to create low-sulfur diesel.

Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay and water containing a dense form of petroleum known as bitumen (or tar). Alberta has an estimated 173 billion barrels of bitumen. 

Bigge Crane and Rigging Co. will provide transportation and Mountain West Holding Co. will provide traffic control.

The remaining two pieces of the hydrocracker will be transferred via Interstate 15.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.