Three years ago, when the first megaload came through Montana, dozens of protestors greeted it in Missoula. Most had signs, many yelled chants – including “hey, hey, ho, ho, these megaloads have got to go” – and a few even got arrested.
But on Thursday night and early Friday morning, a markedly different scene unfolded in Kalispell, as 50 or 60 people gathered at the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and Meridian Road to watch another megaload, this one bound for a refinery in Great Falls, make an uneventful midnight ride across the valley.
As Kalispell resident John Hansen said, “this is how starved we are for entertainment in this town.”
The megaload, hauled by two semi-trucks and surrounded by a fleet support vehicles, began its journey in Lewiston, Idaho more than a week ago and had traveled through Sandpoint, Troy and Libby before arriving in Kalispell on Thursday morning. The refinery equipment is 21 feet wide and nearly 17 feet tall. The megaload’s maximum gross weight can reach 1.08 million pounds. Its maximum permitted length is 400 feet, 5 inches.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday night, the big rig departed the weigh station just west of Kalispell for its nocturnal journey through the valley. As it entered town, the road was lined with people who came out neither in support or against the massive cargo – they were just curious.
Jon Erdmann, a photographer in Kalispell, was set up for his shot long before the big truck rolled through. He posted a photo he had taken on Thursday and following the response he received on Facebook, he wasn’t surprised to see so many people lining the road in the middle of the night.
“People are curious. They want to see this monstrosity roll by, it’s just exciting,” he said. “It’s something we won’t see again.”
As the truck came by there was no cheering or yelling, just a stunned silence as the vehicle slowly crawled through town and turned up Meridian Road. After it made the turn, some people jumped back in their cars to race it across town to see it again while others went home.
From Meridian it joined up with U.S. Highway 93 at Hutton Ranch and rolled up toward Whitefish. There, it turned east on Montana Highway 40 and traveled through Columbia Falls. Just east of there it turned south on Montana Highway 206 and traveled to Montana Highway 35. From there it went through Creston and turned east on Montana Highway 83 just north of Bigfork. The load was then parked along the Swan Highway where it will spend the weekend before continuing its journey to Great Falls on Sunday night.
In recent years, megaloads have sparked controversy in the Pacific Northwest due to their massive weight and size and their impacts on road infrastructure and environment corridors. Last week, protestors met the eastbound megaload in Moscow and Sandpoint.