A large load of refinery equipment arrived in the Smith Valley area on Thursday morning.

The load, which is 21 feet wide and nearly 17 feet tall, stopped Thursday morning at the weigh station west of Kalispell.

The load’s maximum weight, including up to two pull trucks and three push trucks, is 1.08 million pounds and its maximum length is just over 400 feet.

Thursday night and early Friday morning, the megaload is scheduled to make a roundabout trip through the Flathead Valley.

From its resting spot on U.S. 2, the load will travel into Kalispell and turn north on Meridian Road, then head up U.S. 93 to the junction of Montana 40.

The megaload will head east on Montana 40 through Columbia Falls, then turn south on Montana 206 to Montana 35 before turning onto Montana 83.

It’s scheduled to stop Friday morning at milepost 77 near Swan Lake on Montana 83.

From Swan Lake, the megaload would travel down the Seeley-Swan Valley before turning east on Montana 200 to go to Great Falls, its final destination.

The megaload moves between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. to avoid congestion. Delays as long as 15 minutes can be expected for drivers who encounter the caravan.

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

The hydrocracker is destined for the Calumet Refinery in Great Falls. It is being moved by Bigge Crane & Rigging Co., which picked up the load at the Port of Lewiston in Idaho last week.