A 300-ton industrial kiln furnace will pass through Rosston and Prescott Saturday and Sunday on its way to a Gum Springs hazardous waste facility

Starting tomorrow, a 600,000 pound (300 ton) industrial kiln furnace will embark on a six-day trip on southern Arkansas roadways from Crossett Port to Gum Springs. If you live anywhere along that route and plan to drive, you will first need to know where this 23-feet extra wide load will likely be and when, because it will certainly block traffic.

According to a May 7 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette story by Daniel McFadin, the furnace will be transported by “a convoy made up of at least four civilian pickups, a set of push and pull trucks, four bucket trucks and a 12-dolly suspension beam dual lane transport trailer.”  The kiln furnace will be hauled by a complex of trucks and will be 226 feet long. It will be travelling slowly.

Part of its route will be through Nevada County Saturday and Sunday.  The Arkansas Department of Transportation has released the following description of its Arkansas route. We have italicized the portions that come through Nevada County.

• Wednesday, May 10 (8 a.m.) – US-82 at Crossett Port to AR-275 in Strong

• Thursday, May 11 (8 a.m.) – US-63 to US-167 in El Dorado

• Friday, May 12 (8 a.m.) – US 167B to US-79 to Stephens

• Saturday, May 13 (Dawn) – Stephens to US-278 to Rosston

• Sunday, May 14 (Dawn) – US-278 to US-371 to 2nd Street in Prescott; AR-24 to AR-53 to Gurdon

• Monday, May 15 (8 a.m.) – AR-53 to US-67 to Gum Springs.

The convoy will not travel continuously. The kiln will be parked in pre-selected places at night on steel pads that will keep the hauler from sinking into the ground. The choice of route came from a ARDoT computer database that uses data on the suitability of roads and bridges to select the path least likely to cause infrastructure damage.

ARDoT Commander Captain Ross H. Batson, who oversees the Oversize/Overweight Permitting Section of the Department, said this transport has been a year in the planning. It will be accompanied by utility bucket trucks to take down or raise up electric, cable or phone lines.  “ARDOT has signed detours in place and message boards to alert drivers,” Batson added. “In some areas, we will have flaggers stationed to direct traffic,” he told us yesterday.

Members of the Arkansas Highway Patrol are expected to assist.

The kiln is headed to the Veolia North American Thermal Hazardous Waste Treatment facility in Gum Springs where it will be used to destroy electric car batteries, to recycle wind turbines and perform other tasks. About 100,000 tons are expected to come through the furnace, according to a press release from VNA.

The kiln’s overland route in Arkansas will complete its intercontinental trip from Italy by ship across the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico up to New Orleans where it was placed on a barge and towed up the Mississippi and then the Ouachita River to a port west of Crossett. The contractor for the Arkansas leg of the trip is Barnhart Crane and Rigging of Memphis, Tennessee.

The kiln will be the centerpiece of a facility being built on 1,500 yards of land in Gum Springs, according to VNA, helping grow the company’s Gum Springs location from employing 100 to 200.  Then-Governor Asa Hutchinson was present when ground was broken for the new facility last October 12.