Late night transport with police escort

[stranger706]

So during the week I get out of class at 1030pm and drive 30 miles home on I10 east. About once a month I come up behind a 2 or 3 truck convoy with several police escorts (cars and suvs) plus the caution vehicles and everyone has all lights flashing. Its quite a sight and lights up the entire interstate. The trucks are dark and unmarked. They're always going east about 65-70 mph.

Anybody have any speculation what this is? I thought maybe nuclear waste.

 

[440Magnum]

Doubtful its nuclear waste, there's actually very little volume of that moved around the country. Certainly not multiple trucks once a month.

What part of I-10?

 

[silverrat]

I live close to Bombardier. Sometimes they have to transport subway cars and they do it that way with police escorts since they have to make extra wide turns with the flatbeds.

 

[Bandito440]

It's probably the government's secret supply of flouride, vaccines, and moon landing tapes.

 

[copcarguy]

They're just moving out the 2014 UFO's from Area 51 to make room for the 2015's...

You'll see this on the next episode of Shipping Wars.

 

[Donald]

I see a lot of prefab road sections being moved. Looks like its becoming more and more common. The TapanZee bridge under construction will get all prefab road sections made in Lanesborough, MA, trucked to Albany, NY and barge down the Hudson to the bridge.

They are using the largest crane (one of) in the world on the bridge. I wonder how much it rents for a day?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/nyregion/giant-floating-crane-reaches-tappan-zee-site.html

 

[eljefino]

There are some tunnels where you can only transport hazmat between 3 and 5 am. Wonder if this sort of thing is going on.

The unmarked thing is funny. Poland Spring uses unmarked trucks to pound local roads because it's bad PR on top of them "stealing our water."

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The nuclear waste trucks aren't escorted, IIRC.

 

[CurtisB]

Sure sounds to me like an oversize load move; that's why you encounter them at night and traveling in a convoy. It may not appear to be very wide or tall, but it could be extremely long.

The caution vehicles are called pilot cars. They serve to spot hazards for the truck drivers and stop traffic for narrow crossings, sharp turns etc. They communicate with each other using two way radios.

The trucking company requires a permit to move the oversize load, and the permit has conditions that the transport company must meet. Depending on your states regulations, and each state is different, a police escort may be required for loads of certain dimensions or simply because of its destination. Police escorts also serve to stop and divert traffic just like pilot cars.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
There are some tunnels where you can only transport hazmat between 3 and 5 am. Wonder if this sort of thing is going on.


Hmmm... there's a tunnel where I-10 passes under Mobile Bay- the only tunnel on I10 between at least Pensacola and El Paso if not much further. Wonder if that's near where the OP is?