Road Transport

The first actions to be taken while preparing to undertake the carriage of a wind turbine include the identification of the cargo, the verification whether the carrier is capable of the transport and selection of the vehicles. The company interested in such carriage order should be able to carry at least half of the components of one tower, including the heaviest and highest elements. The carriage of the remaining parts may be subcontracted to other transport companies.

The next step is to prepare an optimized route. In the route planning process the following have to be taken into account: road width, signs and posts placed by the road, width and air clearance under flyovers and bridges, roundabout size, authorized road surface load by the vehicle, etc. Sometimes the straight distance to the point of destination is 100 km, but the transit route of a particular element may be as long as 300 km, because certain diversions are necessary. This is due to the height of flyovers and bridges (in Poland the average clearance is 4.5 m), radius of road bends, electric rail tractions, bad road surface condition etc. Besides, oversize vehicles have to avoid road sections under repair. Some obstacles, such as road signs, have to be temporarily removed. Another difficulties appear at roundabouts built along national roads, and at safety islands for pedestrians, especially those with permanent road signs. What is also lacking is immediate access to information about the capacity and air clearance of bridges and flyovers, their height, or other restrictions found on each road. As a result of all these difficulties, the end recipient pays a higher transport charge, while carriage operations take longer.

Remark: This article abstract from TRANSPORTOVERSIZE.