Drivers in the Valley may experience slowdowns on major roads next week as trucks carrying nearly 300-ton cargo make their way to a low-level radioactive materials processing facility in Lawrence County.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced Wednesday night that a “superload” began its 400-mile journey from West Milton, New York to Alaron Corporation in Wampum, Pennsylvania.

 PennDOT’s news release said the superload is 213 feet long and weighs 294 tons.

The cargo is an empty steel tank that was removed as a part of the decommissioning of the D1G Prototype reactor at the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in West Milton, New York. The D1G Prototype reactor was shut down in 1996.

The tank is traveling to Alaron in Wampum, PA to be disassembled and recycled.

 

 

The superload will move in what is known as a rolling slowdown using two traffic lanes which will result in traffic stoppages and travel delays.

The majority of the transport, currently scheduled to be completed on January 21, will take place during nighttime hours.

Movement could be impacted or delayed by winter weather.

 The travel plan will involve 16 counties and will feature ramp maneuvers, unusual traffic patterns, and slow-moving vehicles which will travel at the posted speed limit or 30 mph—whichever is lower.

In Mercer County, the superload is scheduled to travel along Route 173, Interstate 80 to Trumbull County in Ohio, where it will move to Route 422 and travel through Mahoning County into Lawrence County where it will move to Route 376 east.

In Lawrence County, the cargo will use Route 224, Route 376 again, Route 108, and Route 18.

Department updates on the superload’s travel can be followed on social media with the #PAsuperload22