A New York company said it was confident the oversized permits they had applied for would be granted, so just went ahead and started out on their trip from Rhode Island to Massachusetts Thursday, June 29.
But a sharp-eyed engineer for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation saw the load on I-95 near Warwick, Rhode Island, thought it was bigger than usual and that prompted the department to look into it. What RIDOT found made them force the driver to slam on the brakes.
NBC Channel 10 from Providence, Rhode Island reported that the 560,000 load was forced to stop. RIDOT told the TV station that the massive generator could be sidelined until a safe route could be found and proper permits issued. It suggested that there were numerous bridges that a load that size could endanger.
The TV station posted on its website, “RIDOT expects it will take days or potentially weeks to move the overweight trailer off the highway. If a safe route can’t be found, the generator may need to be disassembled along the shoulder of I-95.”
Bay Crane Services of New York was making the move from Quonset in North Kingstown, Rhode Island to a location in Massachusetts.