Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. -- National Grid plans to move a humongous piece of equipment from Quonset Point to Warwick by truck in Tuesday's early morning hours, and has planned an elaborate traffic scheme to accomplish the task.

To be lugged on a 40-wheel trailer is a 220-ton transformer, spokesman David Graves said on Friday.

The transformer measures 33 feet long, 12.5 feet wide and 14 feet tall, he said.

The device was built in Korea, shipped to Philadelphia, and is expected to arrive by barge at Quonset this weekend, he said. National Grid hopes to have the transformer in place at its facility on Cowesett Road in Warwick within four hours early Tuesday morning, weather permitting.

Graves said he did not know how much it cost to build and ship the transformer.

He said National Grid and the company hired to conduct the move are working with the state Department of Transportation, state police and public safety officials in communities through which the transformer will travel to mitigate traffic disruptions.

There will be "rolling traffic stops" along the way, Graves said, meaning that police officers will halt or re-route traffic. On the last leg, the transformer will travel the wrong way on Route 2 for 2.2 miles until it reaches Cowesett Road.

Graves said that the Kent County substation Cowesett Road is undergoing expansion to improve service to the southern part of Rhode Island.

"This transformer will accept 345,000 volts and subdivide that into three lines which will then be fed out into the area," he said.

The new transformer will join two others at the Cowesett site.

The itinerary:
• West on Davisville Road 3.6 mi.
• North on Post Road [Route. 1] 4.2 mi.
• West on Centerville Road [Route 117] 3.5 mi.
• South on Route. 2, with traffic lane closures, 2.2 mi.
• East on Cowesett Road to the substation 2.3 mi.

 Tags  National Grid North Kingstown Quonset Point Warwick

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