PORT TOWNSEND — Travelers using state highways 19 and 20 between Port Hadlock and Port Townsend between 11 p.m. Saturday and 4:30 a.m. Sunday should use alternative routes to avoid a slow-moving oversized load, a fishing boat being transported in two pieces.
“It’s a really big boat. My manager and everyone is talking about how big it is,” said April Lee, maintenance communications director for the state Department of Transportation.
Lee said OXBO Mega Transport Solutions of Scappoose, Ore., is moving the boat, which currently is in Port Hadlock. It will move the top part more than 7 miles and return for the hull, occupying both travel lanes in the process.
The Captain Alaska is 78 feet long and 25 feet wide and weighs 180,000 pounds, said Port Townsend Harbormaster Kristian Ferrero. The boat is staged near the Jefferson County Public Utility District office at Four Corners Road. It will be towed down state Highway 19 north onto state Highway 20 to Mill Road, then east on Mill Road to Thomas Street and back to the highway, then turn left onto Haines Place at the boat yard, he said.
Ferrero said the boat will be separated into the hull and the house and reassembled in Port Townsend over about two weeks.
“There’s no problem once we get it to our yard. It’s just taking it down public streets. We are continuing the conversation regarding the best location to put the top back on,” he said.
The boat will be launched using the Port of Port Townsend’s 300-ton travel lift, Ferrero said.
Matt Stewart, road maintenance superintendent for the Jefferson County Public Works Department, said the county issued an oversize and overweight permit for the move, which requires the contractor to block streets, detour traffic and provide escorts. The transport will begin at Four Corners and then on Mill Road to Port Townsend Paper and Thomas Street uphill from Port Townsend Paper. Beyond that it will be on state or city roads, he said.
“We let the state take the lead on what is required here. Troopers will be escorting the load and the contractor will provide road closure.
“The only thing the county is doing is staffing the incident to remove traffic signs and then reinstall them,” Stewart said.
Jameson Hawn, digital communications specialist for Jefferson County PUD, said there’s a fair number of wires, so they will have a full line crew there following the boat’s progress.
“Our engineers went out and checked the route. The distribution lines, the standard lines on the roadside poles, shouldn’t be affected. If the secondary lines, from the distribution line to the home, have to be moved upward, we’ll be onside to do that,” he said.
Laura Parsons, civil engineer for the city of Port Townsend said the city is being kept informed as part of its communication with Jefferson County PUD.
“The only real action is the city and county are collaborating on putting together and sending out a message on the (emergency alert system).
“The State Patrol and PUD have the biggest tasks. When they moved it out to the current location at Four Corners we had to remove a stop sign,” she said.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at Brian.Gawley@ sound publishing.com
