There have been hundreds of trees cut down to tell the story of the boondoggle in shipping 175 ton half coker drums up highway 12, thence to and through Montana, which hasn't given permission yet either. Blocking off hwy 12, both lanes so that these monster loads can travel through Idaho to their final destination, the oil sands area of Calgary, Canada.
I have an off the wall suggestion that may actually work. It has been announced that many more over sized and over weight loads are planned for the future. Has anyone thought about flying over these routes rather than trucking them? No, I don't mean in a standard airliner. How about a rigid dirigible? I had read something about a new German built airship called the CL160. I even think there is one already here on the west coast.
The CL 160 as it's name implies, can carry a payload of 160 tons from point A to the end destination without touching the ground anywhere en route. True, 160 tons won't lift 175 tons, but those figures are so close, one wonders if the engineers that designed this machine hd a tolerance built in that would handle the additional weight. The airships use helium, not the hydrogen that the ill fated Hindenburg burned up with.
I urge the powers that be to look into this method of transporting extra heavy or extra large loads. How about we think outside the box just this once. Below is the source of the statistical information on these air machines.
http://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/cargolifter/
DFO Day in CdA
7 years ago
2 comments:
Yes but Herb how much extra will it cost to use the suggested vehicle. I would think this would be a primary consideration.
NJ
Hey, I can't do it all. That's what they have engineers for. I just came up with the idea. It is for the involved parties to determine the feasability of the idea.
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