Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

Talk of the town: Prairie State generator part makes low-speed journey through Lenzburg

LENZBURG -- Margie Politsch baked cupcakes and brewed a fresh pot of coffee Monday for friends who sat in the chairs set up along the sidewalk in front of her house on South Main Street.

It wasn't a parade, but it might as well have been.

"It's really an exciting thing," the 68-year-old Lenzburg resident said.

Across the street, neighbor Millie Jaimet said she canceled her doctor's appointment just so she could be home.

"It's a busy day for Lenzburg," the 75-year-old said.

A few miles away, a convoy of police and professional equipment movers were escorting an 18-axle tow carrying a new 443-ton part of a generator enroute to the $3.9 billion Prairie State Energy Campus power plant under construction outside Lively Grove in rural Washington County. The massive machinery had arrived over the weekend by barge on the nearby Kaskaskia River in southern St. Clair County. On Monday morning, the generator began its trek.

Lenzburg Police Chief Skip Mize said the machinery left the river port at 7:40 a.m. The caravan of police cars, utility trucks and workers drove and walked alongside the remote control-operated heavy-haul rig as it traveled about 1 mph. According to the Web site answers.yahoo.com, human beings can walk about 2.5 mph.

They headed east down Pike Sawmill-Baer Road, turned north on Baldwin Road, then east on Schaller Road and north onto Winter Road, which turns into Main Street and runs right through Lenzburg.

Forklifts placed large steel plates in areas along the road to protect sewer lines and other underlying infrastructure. Even large, 10-inch-thick steel trusses were placed atop concrete culverts for structural reinforcement. Utility workers raised power lines that crossed the path from above so the 35-foot-long, 19-foot, 2-inch-wide and 17-foot, 8-inch-tall red, steel behemoth could pass through.

The heavy haul turned the corner at Schaller onto Winter Road at 2 p.m. after more than six hours of traveling. The turn took several minutes to make before it proceeded north up Winter Road and onto Main Street. The convoy then slowed before it crossed a culvert in front of Gene and Candace Racho's home.

Once it crossed, Candace applauded.

"It looks like our culvert is still standing," Racho said. "I thought that it might go and crack."

Lenzburg Police Chief Skip Mize had held a special village meeting last week to inform residents about the move that was coming so they would find alternative routes Monday. He said the move was a big attraction to the village's 600 residents, some of whom set up lawn chairs and parked their cars along Main Street. Mize said the move went without incident.

"We've pretty much have been going nonstop," Mize said. "I thought it went really well."

International movers Mammoet and Kentucky-based Edwards Moving and Rigging Inc. are orchestrating the two-day, 14-mile transport. Mammoet project manager Rick Cortez said the rig traveled about 7.75 miles before it stopped for the day at the end of North Main Street at Illinois 13 in Lenzburg.

"It's gone pretty good, better than I anticipated," Cortez said. "We saw some corners were challenging turns with uneven surfaces. We took those slowly, but it's gone pretty well."

The haul will resume this morning and continue east onto Illinois 13 and then further east onto Lenzburg East Road before turning south on Illinois 4 and finally east on New Marigold Road to the power plant.

The 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired power plant will be powered by two 800-megawatt generating units. The first is expected to be in operation by summer 2011 and the second, a year later. The power plant has a coal mine on site and advanced environmental control technologies to generate enough electricity to serve approximately 2.5 million families in at least nine states.

The project will provide an estimated $1 billion in construction wages and employ more than 2,700 workers at the peak of construction. It is also expected to provide $785 million in ongoing economic activity for the state, including $734 million for the region.

But for at least one day, it was the talk of Lenzburg.

"We don't have much action in this town," said Millie Jaimet. "It's kind of exciting."