Megaload to travel through Flathead Valley

A truck hauling a “megaload” of refinery equipment to the Canadian oil sands is expected to travel through the Flathead Valley next week.

The Montana Department of Transportation says the megaload — modules headed for Calumet Refinery in Great Falls — would move through Northwest Montana starting as early as Aug. 18.

The megaload will enter Kalispell on U.S. 2, where it will turn north on Meridian Road. It will head up U.S. 93 and turn east just before Whitefish at Montana 40, then travel through Columbia Falls and go south on Montana 206. The next leg is on Montana 35, turning onto Montana 83 just before Bigfork.

The megaload will leave the Flathead Valley on the Seeley-Swan Highway before returning to Montana 200 for its last segment to Great Falls.

The trucks will travel at night. The planned route through Kalispell and the rest of the Flathead Valley will take one night.