As part of a serpentine path across the Sunflower State, a massive portion of a SpaceX rocket crawled through the Golden Belt, including Lyons. Ellinwood and Great Bend, Sunday on its way to a Texas launch facility.
Local residents stood along 10th Street in Great Bend Sunday afternoon as the semi and its escorts rolled west through town, turning south on Main, or U.S. 281. City officials said the passage was pretty uneventful and no special precautions had to be taken.
The cargo entered Kansas last Thursday on U.S. 36 from St. Joseph, Mo. The Kansas Department of Transportation said the semi hauling a 300-foot long, 18 feet wide, and 14 feet, three inches tall, will take a mostly rural highway route through Kansas, but will also use portions of major roadways including I-70, I-135, U.S. 77, U.S. 56 and U.S. 281.
Their top speed is only be 45 mph, prompting KDOT to warn motorists the caravan could backup traffic. The cargo is taking up both lanes of traffic as it did when it passed through Kansas in May when a pair of semis hauling SpaceX equipment passed through the state (those didn’t come through Great Bend).
The 700,000-pound shipment is headed to Texas. SpaceX operates its Rocket Development Center in McGregor, between Waco and Fort Cavazos. SpaceX Starbase launch facility is located along the Gulf coast near Brownsville.
It is taking several days for the shipment to make its way through Kansas, leaving the state Tuesday on U.S. 56 at Elkhart and into Oklahoma.
Background on superloads
KDOT issues the permits, designates the route(s) and verifies the load ratings for the bridges for loads of this size, called superloads, said Tim Potter, Hutchinson-based KDOT public affairs manager.
“From there, it is the responsibility of the escort companies and the mover/owne,” he said. The escort companies will drive the route to see if there is anything needed (example: utility lines need to be raised).
“They must create a plan and contact any companies (utility owners, railroad, sign owners, etc.) of what’s needed, and if anything has to be moved, it’s their responsibility to have it put back,” he said.
KDOT routes approximately 6,000 superloads each year, with about eight to 10 of them being this extreme in size as the SpaceX loads.
The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is a spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk.
