COEUR d'ALENE - Any day now, a megaload shipment will pass through Kootenai County.

The megaload, headed north on Highway 95 with an eventual destination of Great Falls, Mont., was expected to stop just south of Plummer early this morning.

The nearly 1-million-pound megaload entered Idaho and stopped around 2:20 a.m. Monday at the top of the Lewiston grade, according to Idaho Transportation Department's Adam Rush.

Rush said the load was expected to head north from Lewiston and travel 52 miles to milepost 372 near Plummer and park for the day.

According to the permit ITD issued to Bigge Crane, travel of the megaload is allowed between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Just how far the megaload of oil refinery equipment travels each day during that time period is at Bigge Crane's discretion, Rush said.

"It's kind of a challenge to predict how far they are going to travel," Rush said. "They aren't required to travel for the whole seven hours."

The load entered Idaho from eastern Washington and is traveling north on Highway 95 to Sandpoint and then east on Highway 200 into Montana, Rush said.

The shipment is being accompanied by pilot vehicles and flaggers. The pilot vehicles will alert the transport vehicle of oncoming traffic so it can let traffic pass at the next nearest pullout.

According to ITD, vehicles encountering the megaload may experience delays as long as 15 minutes.

Wild Idaho Rising Tide, an environmental activist group, filed a petition with ITD asking for a stay of the permit granted to Bigge Crane.

"We received that Friday afternoon and it is being reviewed by our legal staff at this time," Rush said.