Turbine parts too heavy for Skyway Bridge will move through Bloomfield and Hwy 62
Administrator | Oct 28, 2020 | Comments 1
There’s no Santa Claus parade in Bloomfield this year, but residents may witness a procession of giant windmill parts leaving the County.
The first of 18 trips to back the parts out of the County could begin Thursday on a new route.
Though some residents saw windmill blades moving through this week, the remainder of the parts are too heavy to be taken over the Skyway Bridge while it is under construction.
Council Tuesday night approved a bylaw authorizing permits for the new route for the removal of purchased equipment from the provincially cancelled White Pines Development (wpd) Industrial Wind Turbine sites.
As part of recouping provincial money spent on the penalty for cancelling the project, sales of the parts were found with a Quebec firm willing to buy the blades, heads and nacelles.
They had intended to move the very heavy parts using the same route that wpd brought them in, but this week learned they would be unable to travel across the bridge.
CAO Marcia Wallace explained to council that the Ministry of Transportation, in an effort to support their sister Ministry of Energy, has fast-tracked approvals for a new route for part of the removals which avoids County Road 49 and the bridge and instead, travel Highway 62.
The heavy parts would be travelling approximately 4kms of County roads – on Sandy Hook and through Bloomfield Main, then along Highway 62.
The new route, she noted, is probably a better choice overall as the provincial roads are in a condition that would support the weight, probably better than if they had taken County roads.
“We think this actually reduces the risk for the County,” said Wallace, “because now, they are travelling way less on County Roads on their way out, and they will be using the same approach, in terms of paying us if they damage things, (roads, trees, ditches, etc.) as in the Road Users Agreement.”
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Does this mean that they will be going around the round-about? That should be interesting! Would like to see a map of the route if it is available.