Newsroom

Big battery Beach Road
Have we got power for you!

Six thousand Sunday morning riders on Beach Road are on standby to help out should Victoria’s biggest ever heavy-load tow need extra power.

In the early hours of Sunday morning 650 tonnes of Loy Yang power generator will roll along Beaconsfield Parade to Webb Dock to be shipped away.

Three prime movers will be pulling at the front and one at the rear will be pushing the multi-wheeled “Super Load”.

Something could go wrong, right?

By our calculations all the riders on Beach Road – Melbourne’s fittest and finest – have the power to tow this monster, all 180 metres of it.

AGL, if something goes wrong, you know who to call.

Otherwise, the giant load should be out of the way of Sunday’s riders and into the port by 5am.

The generator starts its mover from Loy Yang Power Station in Gippsland to Webb Dock in Port Melbourne from today, reaching its destination on Sunday.

Due to its size, 180 metres long, 6.5 wide and 5.2 metres tall, other road users will not always be able to overtake the vehicle and it will at times need to travel on the wrong side of the road.

The average speed of the vehicle is 15 kilometres per hour which will decrease to 5 kilometres in built up areas and to cross bridges and culverts.

The first leg of the journey was on Thursday 1 February, from Loy Yang to Officer, where it will be parked in a stop-over site.

Sections of the road on the other side of the highway (towards Gippsland) will be closed as the load is unable to cross some bridges on the Melbourne bound lanes.

The second leg will take place between 9pm Friday 2 February and 5am Saturday 3 February when the convoy will make its way from Officer, along the Princes Highway and Heatherton Road, to the Dingley Bypass just before Warrigal Road.

On its final leg, the load will start its journey at 9pm Saturday 3 February from the Dingley bypass and travel along Warrigal Rd/North Rd/Nepean Rd/Beaconsfield Parade to Webb Dock in Port Melbourne where the generator will be loaded onto a cargo ship at about 5am Sunday 4 February.

Detailed information about the travel route can be found on the VicRoads website.

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