A recent road closure in the village started a train of questions and research.
Only a couple of months ago a new pedestrian crossing was installed, along with a central reservation and raised lighting columns. (It replaces a "lollipop lady" who's been removed for some years). There are further central reservations nearby, also with raised lighting and keep left bollards.
So, only a couple of weeks after installation, the new "street furniture" was to be removed, and replaced "socketed" such that it could be removed to facilitate the "large load". The older street furniture was to receive the same treatment. (and further way along the road)
The work was done in fairly short order, but still no detail on why. Digging on the internet revealed a fragmented set of info, first that it was likely to be one or more large loads going from Goole to a brewery in Burton on Trent. The natural route for that, however, would be M62, M18, M1, A38 - all reasonably straightforward.
Further digging indicated more planning applications in nearby villages requesting work on trees with a TPO, to crop them back from the road (and some of that work appears to have now been done).
Then, a bit more evidence. From the haulage firm in Goole, drawings of the load, both free-standing and mounted for transport. The cargo alone is 28m long and 5.8m in diameter. Loaded, the whole is 45m long and 6.4m high! (It's only 35t, but the loaded unit is 100t).
Outcome is, it's too big for the motorway bridges, so needs a "bridgeless" route. SWMBO found a schematic of this yesterday. It uses a combination of minor A-roads, B-roads and unclassified. We know quite a lot of the route, and street furniture is going to make it interesting to say the least, and there are some pretty (nay, very) sharp turns involved. As an example, when it leaves our village (it looks like it might have a layover at a local haulage firm) it heads into the nearest large town, whereon it has to negotiate a network of back streets due to a couple of railway bridges negating the main road. Negotiation with a 45m long, 6m+ wide load is going to be a sight to see. Frankly, that particular routeing example looks like one of many, from end to end.
Rumours were that it was due some time in July, but we can't confirm a date yet (all the preparation work was done "urgently"). I'm hoping I'll be around to watch.
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