14 ms·

Intel is trucking a 916k-pound 'Super Load' across Ohio to its new fab

248 points by prng2021 2y ago

jancsika 2y ago
> 280 feet long There's no way the truck in the picture is hauling something 280 feet long! The traffic behind it is closer than that!
- mminer237 2y ago
  Yeah, that photo is an older, separate very large load. They're trying to do a bunch of them back-to-back so they only have to figure out the logistics once. The 280' one hasn't left yet (or probably been loaded), but there's a picture of it on ODOT's site: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor...
  - jancsika 2y ago
    Thanks for the link! Still-- there's no indication that anything in that image is 280 feet long! Maybe the container in the foreground is, but the part that's shown can't be more than 75 ft. It's like reading a story about a Wooly Mammoth being spotted in the wild, but people are only taking blurry pictures of its rear end. :/
leetrout 2y ago
> 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field Seems unclear to phrase it that way when talking a about the dimensions of the load and then comparing the entire transport apparatus length. Unsure how they jump from 280 being greater than 360.
- adolph 2y ago
  Given that the author makes reference to the overall transport apparatus, the correctness of the length analogy also depends on if they refer to the "field of play" or the "entire field" or if the word "field" was edited from "pitch." The rectangular field of play used for American football games measures 100 yards (91.44 m) long between the goal lines . . . . The entire field is a rectangle 360 feet (110 m) long. . . [0] The pitch is rectangular in shape. . . . the longer sides are called the touchlines. . . . The two touchlines are between 100 and 130 yards (91 and 119 metres) long . . . [1] 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_pitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_pitch
- kuu 2y ago
  85 meters
coldpie 2y ago
It doesn't happen often, but I always enjoy when I spot oversize equipment making its way across the roads. Enormous construction equipment; wind turbine blades; partial buildings. The kind of stuff that requires multiple lanes, careful route planning, and lead & follow cars. Gives a little glimpse of the immense effort we put in to building, improving, and maintaining our society.
- whartung 2y ago
  My wife didn’t realize it at the time, but she got to see the Space Shuttles SRBs on the freeway as they were coming into LA for the Shuttle exhibit there. Searching for when they moved Endeavor from LAX to the museum years ago is worthwhile. That was a tight fit on LA streets.
  - throwup238 2y ago
    The California Science Center has a little projector room showing a timelapse of the Endeavor being delivered to its final resting spot, right before you get to the big room with the shuttle.
  - CoastalCoder 2y ago
    One time when I was flying out of DC, I got to see a space shuttle on the airport tarmac. (I can't remember if it was mounted on a 747 or not.) A very cool surprise. This was probably in the 2009-2013 timeframe, IIRC.
  - sib 2y ago
    A friend of mine was the official photographer for the move of the Shuttle to the museum in LA. https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtJA0PPWm3/?img_index=1 https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtJA0PPWm3/?img_index=1
    - bcrosby95 2y ago
      It's actually smaller than I expected. It always appeared so much larger in the launch pictures.
stuff4ben 2y ago
why would you not build that stuff onsite?
- ethagknight 2y ago
  The short answer is probably that the government is throwing so much money at this, and it’s usually an uncapped direct government expense to do offsite utility work like this for these kinds of major projects. Compare to making it an “onsite expense” which will have a dollar cap.
- 01acheru 2y ago
  IMHO because it's not something trivial to build so you would also need to build the stuff to build it. To build complex (and huge) machinery you need specialized factories with lots of other big and complex machinery, you cannot just create a factory to build n=1 objects it's not economically viable.
  - bunderbunder 2y ago
    Though, perhaps they meant "assemble". A lot of other big things, like wind turbines, are shipped in smaller pieces and assembled onsite. At least according to a family member of mine who works on them, you even get slightly different designs that are specifically tailored to the local highway transport regulations in different countries. That said, I think in general you're right that the story is that it's just cheaper to do it this way. I just think that assuming you'd need to build actual factories is a bit drastic. But perhaps even getting the equipment needed for final assembly onsite is prohibitively expensive compared to just transporting the fully-assembled equipment.
    - 01acheru 2y ago
      Well if they mean assemble instead of build the things change a bit, but anyway even when talking about big and complex things there are big and complex things that can be "easily" split into pieces and assembled at a later time and other things that cannot be split so easily so much more resources are needed to assemble the thing in its final form. Just guesses it's not something I'm into.
jjice 2y ago
Tangential, but what's the state of semiconductor fabs in the US? Looking at this Wikipedia article [0], there are quite a lot. That said, all but three (assuming I counted correctly) are pre-2020. Is the push for fabs in the US specifically to have modern, sophisticated fabs? My initial understanding of needing more fabs in the US was mainly for embedded stuff like for military, automobiles, and that kind of thing. Is this push actually more so for higher end fabrication for modern non-embedded use? Whatever the case is, having some more domestic production (especially for something as valuable as microprocessors) seems like a big win for any nation. I'm looking forward to seeing how the US does with chip fabrication. I don't expect them (us?) to become the dominant player, but I am bullish on US chip production. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat...
- dfxm12 2y ago
  You can find context for the recent push here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act
  - jjice 2y ago
    Thank you, this is exactly what I needed!
- Workaccount2 2y ago
  Being able to produce state of the art semiconductors is arguably the most important manufacturing ability for a country to have. The US does not want to be dependent on Taiwan or South Korea to build what is nowadays a cornerstone economic driver (compute) and cornerstone defense tool (compute). So to put it simply; the US wants to be sure it can still make H100's even if the rest of the world goes to shit.
  - krisoft 2y ago
    > Being able to produce state of the art semiconductors is arguably the most important manufacturing ability for a country to have. I don't think that is quite right. It is a very important ability. I don't think it is the "most important" ability. If you have semiconductor fabs but not dry docks to build capital ships you will be in for a world of hurt. If you have semiconductor fabs but not agriculture to feed your people you will be in a world of hurt. If you have semiconductor fabs but not the ability to cast solid-fuelled rocket engines for your missiles you will be in a world of hurt. It is one of the many important abilities. The reason we are talking about it is not because it is the "most important", but because it is at danger of being lost. We don't talk about the other equally very important abilities (like dry docks for giant ships, agriculture to feed the nation, or solid fuel casting, or a myriad of other things) because nobody worries about those going away.
soared 2y ago
> Bruning shared that other companies are piggybacking on the super load route plans now that accommodations have already been made I would’ve thought the ability to do a super load or not determined a lot of your mfg/etc process. Seems surprising a company could switch over to a super load because it’s now available.
- gehwartzen 2y ago
  Makes sense though if the route is already getting prepped for one load. It's a huge amount of work from logistical and coordinating effort (trains getting re-routed, hazmats cleared, roads shut down, etc) to get the route setup. May as well send any other extremely large shipments along while it's cleared. Lots of companies have huge pieces of equipment sitting at factory X that they would rather have at factory Y for example.
- crote 2y ago
  There are plenty of applications where a single load would be more convenient for one way or another, but it's possible to do it in multiple loads with a final assembly step at the destination. Nobody is going to spend months of planning and many millions of dollars on alterations to save a few grand on a one-off project. But hey, if someone else has already done the planning and alterations, why not piggyback off of that and save yourself some money?
theandrewbailey 2y ago
I grew up less than half an hour away from the fab site. Back then, if you told me that this would happen, I wouldn't believe you.
yellow_lead 2y ago
This may seem like a weird question but I wonder how much it is worth? Presumably it's very expensive and precise equipment. I wonder if it's protected from gunfire in transit.
- mhb 2y ago
  Gunfire is the threat that comes to mind? Weird.
  - bunderbunder 2y ago
    I can totally see someone taking a potshot at it just for a lark. Heck, I can see someone doing it for the purpose of creating content for their TikTok or YouTube channel. It's not like something like that has never happened before: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-man-who-deliberately-crashed-airplane-youtube-video-admits https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-ma...
    - reaperman 2y ago
      Most of the large petrochemical tanks on the Gulf Coast have bullet dings in them. Folks just like to take potshots at stuff. Luckily the steel of these tanks are already more than thick enough to handle most small-arms fire. They just take the damage into account when they do corrosion monitoring every few years (those impact spots tend to be thinner afterwards, of course).
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    Have you been thru rural Ohio?
  - ls65536 2y ago
    It has happened before with other kinds of large cargo (the type that you really wouldn't want to have undesired holes in): https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276419 https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276419
secondcoming 2y ago
916k lbs = 415k kg
- Workaccount2 2y ago
  450Mg! Poor megagram never gets any love!
- Alghranokk 2y ago
  Which to be even clearer is 415 metric tons. For context: typical max weight for a truck in the US of A is 80k lbs, or a bit over 36 metric tons.
- PaywallBuster 2y ago
  > Big rigs are limited by federal regulation to a maximum loaded weight of 80,000 pounds including cargo over 10x heavier than the maximum allowed by law
  - bowsamic 2y ago
    It's split up into 18 separate loads
    - npongratz 2y ago
      > It's split up into 18 separate loads TFA suggests it's not split up: > Intel will put a 916,000-pound "super load" on the road in Ohio on Wednesday, for a trip that will cover approximately 150 miles in nine days and snarl traffic for over a week... > Four of these loads, including the one hitting the road now, weigh around 900,000 pounds — that's 400 metric tons, or 76 elephants. > Intel's 916,000-pound shipment is a "cold box,"... EDIT: Further information in the ODOT advisory detailing the schedule of this one shipment confirms 916k pounds is not split among multiple loads: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor... > This is the twelfth of nearly two dozen "super loads"... This load... measures approximately 23’ tall, 20’ wide, 280’ long, and weighs 916,000 pounds.
notesinthefield 2y ago
For other Ohioans who were wondering about this : ODOT started talking about the shipping routes a couple weeks ago and contrary to the article, we do have a timetable here : https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor... Im going between Cincinnati and Columbus several times over the next three weeks and am not looking forward to this even though it seems theyre taking a mostly out of the way route through the SE Ohio farming towns.
- TimMeade 2y ago
  It's going within about 10 miles of my mothers house... Not sure she would care... But i'll tell her!
- Severian 2y ago
  Oh god, 33 and Gender Road. That's not going to be pretty for traffic.
- jcranmer 2y ago
  I've put together a rough map of the route it's taking here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MPubWurLDu4XjMQJ7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/MPubWurLDu4XjMQJ7 (unfortunately, the limitations of Google Maps keeps me from properly marking the final bouncing between Mink Rd and 310--it continues east past Mink Rd to go up OH-310, then returns to Mink Rd on US-40 then returns to OH-310 on OH-16 then back to Mink Rd on OH-161. Not sure why it's not sticking to one or the other way the entire last stretch.) If you're going between Cincinnati and Columbus, you should be absolutely nowhere near this route, as it's going nowhere near I-71.
  - Arrath 2y ago
    > Not sure why it's not sticking to one or the other way the entire last stretch. Generally, low overpasses or turns that would be problematically tight. E: Checking street view, for example: that Mink Rd overpass over I-70 is likely either too narrow or not rated for the weight. https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9506421,-82.7300744,3a,75y,13.17h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-NAUWhw7NV_9Cz443R_tJg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D-NAUWhw7NV_9Cz443R_tJg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D13.169001164822966%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D90!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205410&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9506421,-82.7300744,3a,75y,1...
o283j5o8j 2y ago
"The box is 23 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field." Author doesn't understand football.
- swores 2y ago
  Either 280ft is longer than whatever type of football field they're thinking of, or it's not. No understanding of football needed for that. You haven't said what part of it you think is wrong - though I do believe that both American Football and Association Football (aka "soccer", or "real football" :P) do both play on pitches a bit longer than 280ft.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
neilv 2y ago
This is worth watching (2m41s): LA Times, "Space shuttle Endeavour's trek across LA: Timelapse" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc&t=3s
bell-cot 2y ago
> Intel's 916,000-pound shipment is a "cold box," a self-standing air-processor structure that facilitates the cryogenic technology needed to fabricate semiconductors. The box is 23 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 280 feet long... The weight gives Tom a big number for his headline - but 99% of the problem with this load is the dimensions - which are too big for normal railroads. (Yes, the weight is also large enough to rule out using a heavy-lift helicopter.) Vs. a single 1940's-era steam locomotive+tender could weigh over 1,200,000 lbs. Modern locomotives - where electronic control makes it very easy, flexible, and wage-saving to operate 'em in sets - generally weigh a bit over 400,000 lbs. per.
- black6 2y ago
  Too long for even the largest Schnabel car in the US (maybe worldwide.)
  - bell-cot 2y ago
    Given the height and width (23' and 20'), I suspect the length doesn't matter much. Customizing a Schnabel car is plausible. Raising overpasses, widening tunnels, etc...not so plausible.
- giarc 2y ago
  "and 280 feet long" Is that an error?
  - xboxnolifes 2y ago
    Don't think so. The article emphasizes that it's nearly as long as a football field. So, if it's an error then it's with their source.
    - knodi123 2y ago
      Huh. I usually push against the use of american-style weirdo units to describe things, but I guess one benefit is that if you specify multiple different units, you get automatic protection against typos!
throwaway2037 2y ago
Does anyone know why Intel select Ohio over Oregon or Arizona? I tried to Google for it, but the sources are awful and nothing definitive. Intel has been quite tight-lipped about it. I saw this quote, which seems to be hiding something: <<"I want to give a lot of credit to the governor and lieutenant governor. They pursued us very aggressively," he [Intel CEO Gelsinger] said.>> What exactly is meant by "pursued us very aggressively"? I can only guess.
- mindcrime 2y ago
  > What exactly is meant by "pursued us very aggressively"? You can pretty much bet it means "economic development" incentives of some sort, combined with a fair amount of personal glad-handing. Intel probably got all sorts of tax-breaks, credits, grants, and FSM-knows what-else as part of the deal to pick Ohio. And the Governor and others probably took Intel execs to plenty of nice steak-houses, strip-joints, exclusive parties, yadda, yadda, yadda.
  - CoastalCoder 2y ago
    I hope Pat Gelsinger has more integrity than that, but who knows.
    - justin66 2y ago
      You could have a pretty bleak outlook on government-corporate graft and corruption and still recognize how ridiculous the idea of Mike DeWine and Pat Gelsinger in a strip club is.
      - tonetegeatinst 2y ago
        Perhaps they were bribed using high purity sand or the governor "gifted" some high purity silicon ingots? Unrealistic but it would be histerical to imagine sand or ingot bribery
      - mindcrime 2y ago
        still recognize how ridiculous the idea of Mike DeWine and Pat Gelsinger in a strip club is. I'm not literally claiming that we can state with certainty that Mike DeWine or Pat Gelsinger went to a strip club. That's just an example to illustrate a more general point.
Remmy 2y ago
They've all passed through my town. They coordinated it all with our local sheriff's office and sent out notifications well in advance so people would know to take alternate routes.
chrsw 2y ago
Am I way out of line to assume TSMC will be well past the capability of this fab when in finally comes on line? Not when the current schedule says it will be ready but when the first actual production wafer comes out of the factory.
- cogman10 2y ago
  Perhaps, though fab advancements everywhere have slowed to a crawl. TSMC might not be significantly more advanced than what it is today when this fab comes online. I believe we are rapidly approaching the end of miniaturization. Even now, node sizes are mostly fabricated just to keep advertising smaller numbers.
  - chrsw 2y ago
    The end of miniaturization I can believe. But the end of performance, I'm not so sure.
    - cogman10 2y ago
      I agree, there's definitely more percentages to gain and possibly even new fab techniques that can result in more densely packed chips using less power. However, those will (likely) be exploitable regardless of when the fab was built. The limiting factor isn't likely going to be the fab equipment so much as the techniques used. That's where I don't know that bigger better fabs is going to be the arms race that it has traditionally been.
- bitwize 2y ago
  > Am I way out of line to assume TSMC will be well past the capability of this fab when in finally comes on line? Maybe, but Apple will own all of that advanced capacity. Those of us who have not bought into the Apple ecosystem will have to slum it with lesser chip processes, which this fab will help with the demand for.
JasserInicide 2y ago
With semiconductor manufacturing being overseas (where lower wages are) for much of the past decades, how will Intel/TSMC opening up locations in the US affect prices? I imagine this just means everything will just get more expensive.
- zaphod12 2y ago
  semiconductor manufacturing is highly skilled - ie the folks over seas were already well paid. It was a lot more about approvals, permissions, etc, than wages with this manufacturing area. It shouldn't have a huge impact.
  - bee_rider 2y ago
    Although, in the US semiconductor companies have to compete for technical people against companies doing the apparently really economically productive stuff—coming up with ad algorithms and playing Wallstreet shell games.
Almondsetat 2y ago
This seems like a super easy target for a foreign actor to sabotage and cause massive economic setback
- beeskneecaps 2y ago
  Agreed, but I imagine the only setback is for the insurance company.
  - lotsofpulp 2y ago
    An insurance company spreads losses, it does not make them disappear. From a country’s economic point of view, the destruction of an economically productive thing is just as much of a loss, regardless of whether a single business and group of investors/shareholders experiences it, or if it is spread amongst various insurers, and hence their insureds via increased premiums in the future.
- cogman10 2y ago
  Nah. There are far easier targets with far larger economic impacts. This cold box certainly cost a lot of money, but it won't break the bank, just delay the fab construction. In fact, I could almost imagine that sabotaging this thing would actually have an economic boon as it would allow the roads to operate again (rather than shutting them down for days to move a 10mph mega fridge). Consider, for example, the economic damage of the camp fire wildfires. That was caused by a single downed power line.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    >the economic damage of the camp fire wildfires. That was caused by a single downed power line. So why are they called camp fire wildfires if a camp fire was not the start of it?
    - cogman10 2y ago
      Named after the road where it started, Camp Creek. But also named that way because "camp fire" is buzz worthy for media outlets.
paulkrush 2y ago
Here's an image of the huge load: https://www.truckersnews.com/news/article/15677391/expect-delays-as-916000pound-super-load-moves-through-ohio https://www.truckersnews.com/news/article/15677391/expect-de...
- 01acheru 2y ago
  I hate Cloudflare internet... accessing a page from an iPhone... Sorry, you have been blocked You are unable to access parameter1.com Why have I been blocked? This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. What can I do to resolve this? You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.
  - mminer237 2y ago
    Here's a direct link on Ohio's website: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f61841d7-3013-4f35-a278-18c47434187b/IMG_6968.jpg?MOD=AJPERES https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f618...
    - bombela 2y ago
      I get a 404. And I also get blocked on the cloudflare link for some reason.
      - jtvjan 2y ago
        Same. I suspect they're all blocked in the EU to avoid having to comply with GDPR. It's archived here, though: https://archive.today/D0fQZ https://archive.today/D0fQZ The picture from Ohio's website too: https://web.archive.org/web/20240612173428/https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f61841d7-3013-4f35-a278-18c47434187b/IMG_6968.jpg?MOD=AJPERES https://web.archive.org/web/20240612173428/https://www.trans...
deweller 2y ago
> ... and 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field. Was this written by an AI? A football field is 360 feet long.
- ecshafer 2y ago
  I could see a journalist that just gets confused between yards and feet writing that.
- dylan604 2y ago
  The unit itself if 280 feet long, but by the time it is mounted on wheels and has a truck in front of it, how long is it then? An additional 80' seems long for just the truck, but this doesn't seem like it'll be a normal cab over tractor type truck
mperham 2y ago
Any insights on why this component cannot be subdivided into smaller pieces?
- mperham 2y ago
  https://whatispiping.com/cold-box-cryogenic/ https://whatispiping.com/cold-box-cryogenic/
kylehotchkiss 2y ago
Small price to pay for a massive regional economic engine!
sneak 2y ago
So Intel is literally too big to fail now? Maybe they can share offices with Boeing.
ano-ther 2y ago
Where does it come from?
azalemeth 2y ago
A fun little fact is that the load on a road causes damage roughly proportional to the fourth power of its mass – or at least, proportional to the fourth power of the weight of each axel. The US government publication detailing this is here – https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr61g/61g.pdf https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr61g/61g.pdf – in 1962 – and it's become something of a famous approximation ever since.
- Keyframe 2y ago
  That'd mean that a twice as heavy vehicle would cause 16 times more damage than the lighter one. Wild and not really intuitive!
  - nerdponx 2y ago
    And relevant for public policy, as both SUVs and EVs (including EV SUVs) become more common on roads.
    - cameldrv 2y ago
      Or not, because the axle weight of semi trucks are much higher than EVs, and due to the fourth power effect, essentially all road damage is caused by trucks.
      - nerdponx 2y ago
        But semi truck road usage is generally limited to certain kinds of roads and isn't broadly increasing. My point is that the effect of non-large vehicles getting heavier is magnified beyond what people might realize.
        cameldrv 2y ago
        Trucks basically do all of the damage. Generally they can have 16,000 lbs per axle. With 5 passengers, a Model X weighs 6000 lbs and has 2 axles. 16000/3000=2.66. 5.33^4=807, plus the truck has 2.5x as many axles, so the semi is doing 2017x as much damage as the car. Even in residential areas, package delivery trucks are always driving around, and they often have about 15000 lbs/axle, so they're doing about 625x the damage of a Tesla X. Road damage due to passenger vehicles is just not significant, even if they're heavy for a passenger vehicle.
david_shi 2y ago
Looks like the Mad Max Fury Road caravan
ge96 2y ago
New idiom unlocked
rqtwteye 2y ago
I remember listening to a German podcast about this kind of transport. It's super interesting how much planning is needed before such a transport. Talk to different police departments, check weight limits of roads, corner radius, plan to disassemble some obstacles. Huge effort.
- mensetmanusman 2y ago
  When this is done internationally, they even have to consider the orientation of the object as it is put onto boat and taken off due to available leverage points on cranes and also how it can fit while swinging. One of our equipment barely fit through an entryway and required half-inch steel dowels to be put on the ground so it could roll for part of its journey.
topspin 2y ago
k-pound? Is that a thing? 458 tons, for someone's definition of a ton. It's important when using imperial lbs to use tons, otherwise we 'muricans can't easily convert it into medium duty trucks in our heads to visualize the mass. ~91 in this case.
fragmede 2y ago
Who is the awesome driver who gets this job? We celebrate drivers of fast cars in Nascar and formula one, how about celebrating slow drivers? where's the 15 minutes of fame for the person driving this rig? I even just watched a movie starring a truck driver and the movie was named for that truck driver.

248 points by prng2021 2y ago

> 280 feet long There's no way the truck in the picture is hauling something 280 feet long! The traffic behind it is closer than that!

mminer237 2y ago
Yeah, that photo is an older, separate very large load. They're trying to do a bunch of them back-to-back so they only have to figure out the logistics once. The 280' one hasn't left yet (or probably been loaded), but there's a picture of it on ODOT's site: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor...
- jancsika 2y ago
  Thanks for the link! Still-- there's no indication that anything in that image is 280 feet long! Maybe the container in the foreground is, but the part that's shown can't be more than 75 ft. It's like reading a story about a Wooly Mammoth being spotted in the wild, but people are only taking blurry pictures of its rear end. :/

leetrout 2y ago

> 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field Seems unclear to phrase it that way when talking a about the dimensions of the load and then comparing the entire transport apparatus length. Unsure how they jump from 280 being greater than 360.

adolph 2y ago
Given that the author makes reference to the overall transport apparatus, the correctness of the length analogy also depends on if they refer to the "field of play" or the "entire field" or if the word "field" was edited from "pitch." The rectangular field of play used for American football games measures 100 yards (91.44 m) long between the goal lines . . . . The entire field is a rectangle 360 feet (110 m) long. . . [0] The pitch is rectangular in shape. . . . the longer sides are called the touchlines. . . . The two touchlines are between 100 and 130 yards (91 and 119 metres) long . . . [1] 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_pitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_pitch
kuu 2y ago
85 meters

coldpie 2y ago

It doesn't happen often, but I always enjoy when I spot oversize equipment making its way across the roads. Enormous construction equipment; wind turbine blades; partial buildings. The kind of stuff that requires multiple lanes, careful route planning, and lead & follow cars. Gives a little glimpse of the immense effort we put in to building, improving, and maintaining our society.

whartung 2y ago
My wife didn’t realize it at the time, but she got to see the Space Shuttles SRBs on the freeway as they were coming into LA for the Shuttle exhibit there. Searching for when they moved Endeavor from LAX to the museum years ago is worthwhile. That was a tight fit on LA streets.
- throwup238 2y ago
  The California Science Center has a little projector room showing a timelapse of the Endeavor being delivered to its final resting spot, right before you get to the big room with the shuttle.
- CoastalCoder 2y ago
  One time when I was flying out of DC, I got to see a space shuttle on the airport tarmac. (I can't remember if it was mounted on a 747 or not.) A very cool surprise. This was probably in the 2009-2013 timeframe, IIRC.
- sib 2y ago
  A friend of mine was the official photographer for the move of the Shuttle to the museum in LA. https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtJA0PPWm3/?img_index=1 https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtJA0PPWm3/?img_index=1
  - bcrosby95 2y ago
    It's actually smaller than I expected. It always appeared so much larger in the launch pictures.

stuff4ben 2y ago

why would you not build that stuff onsite?

ethagknight 2y ago
The short answer is probably that the government is throwing so much money at this, and it’s usually an uncapped direct government expense to do offsite utility work like this for these kinds of major projects. Compare to making it an “onsite expense” which will have a dollar cap.
01acheru 2y ago
IMHO because it's not something trivial to build so you would also need to build the stuff to build it. To build complex (and huge) machinery you need specialized factories with lots of other big and complex machinery, you cannot just create a factory to build n=1 objects it's not economically viable.
- bunderbunder 2y ago
  Though, perhaps they meant "assemble". A lot of other big things, like wind turbines, are shipped in smaller pieces and assembled onsite. At least according to a family member of mine who works on them, you even get slightly different designs that are specifically tailored to the local highway transport regulations in different countries. That said, I think in general you're right that the story is that it's just cheaper to do it this way. I just think that assuming you'd need to build actual factories is a bit drastic. But perhaps even getting the equipment needed for final assembly onsite is prohibitively expensive compared to just transporting the fully-assembled equipment.
  - 01acheru 2y ago
    Well if they mean assemble instead of build the things change a bit, but anyway even when talking about big and complex things there are big and complex things that can be "easily" split into pieces and assembled at a later time and other things that cannot be split so easily so much more resources are needed to assemble the thing in its final form. Just guesses it's not something I'm into.

jjice 2y ago

Tangential, but what's the state of semiconductor fabs in the US? Looking at this Wikipedia article [0], there are quite a lot. That said, all but three (assuming I counted correctly) are pre-2020. Is the push for fabs in the US specifically to have modern, sophisticated fabs? My initial understanding of needing more fabs in the US was mainly for embedded stuff like for military, automobiles, and that kind of thing. Is this push actually more so for higher end fabrication for modern non-embedded use? Whatever the case is, having some more domestic production (especially for something as valuable as microprocessors) seems like a big win for any nation. I'm looking forward to seeing how the US does with chip fabrication. I don't expect them (us?) to become the dominant player, but I am bullish on US chip production. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabrication_plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_fabricat...

dfxm12 2y ago
You can find context for the recent push here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act
- jjice 2y ago
  Thank you, this is exactly what I needed!
Workaccount2 2y ago
Being able to produce state of the art semiconductors is arguably the most important manufacturing ability for a country to have. The US does not want to be dependent on Taiwan or South Korea to build what is nowadays a cornerstone economic driver (compute) and cornerstone defense tool (compute). So to put it simply; the US wants to be sure it can still make H100's even if the rest of the world goes to shit.
- krisoft 2y ago
  > Being able to produce state of the art semiconductors is arguably the most important manufacturing ability for a country to have. I don't think that is quite right. It is a very important ability. I don't think it is the "most important" ability. If you have semiconductor fabs but not dry docks to build capital ships you will be in for a world of hurt. If you have semiconductor fabs but not agriculture to feed your people you will be in a world of hurt. If you have semiconductor fabs but not the ability to cast solid-fuelled rocket engines for your missiles you will be in a world of hurt. It is one of the many important abilities. The reason we are talking about it is not because it is the "most important", but because it is at danger of being lost. We don't talk about the other equally very important abilities (like dry docks for giant ships, agriculture to feed the nation, or solid fuel casting, or a myriad of other things) because nobody worries about those going away.

soared 2y ago

> Bruning shared that other companies are piggybacking on the super load route plans now that accommodations have already been made I would’ve thought the ability to do a super load or not determined a lot of your mfg/etc process. Seems surprising a company could switch over to a super load because it’s now available.

gehwartzen 2y ago
Makes sense though if the route is already getting prepped for one load. It's a huge amount of work from logistical and coordinating effort (trains getting re-routed, hazmats cleared, roads shut down, etc) to get the route setup. May as well send any other extremely large shipments along while it's cleared. Lots of companies have huge pieces of equipment sitting at factory X that they would rather have at factory Y for example.
crote 2y ago
There are plenty of applications where a single load would be more convenient for one way or another, but it's possible to do it in multiple loads with a final assembly step at the destination. Nobody is going to spend months of planning and many millions of dollars on alterations to save a few grand on a one-off project. But hey, if someone else has already done the planning and alterations, why not piggyback off of that and save yourself some money?

theandrewbailey 2y ago

I grew up less than half an hour away from the fab site. Back then, if you told me that this would happen, I wouldn't believe you.

yellow_lead 2y ago

This may seem like a weird question but I wonder how much it is worth? Presumably it's very expensive and precise equipment. I wonder if it's protected from gunfire in transit.

mhb 2y ago
Gunfire is the threat that comes to mind? Weird.
- bunderbunder 2y ago
  I can totally see someone taking a potshot at it just for a lark. Heck, I can see someone doing it for the purpose of creating content for their TikTok or YouTube channel. It's not like something like that has never happened before: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-man-who-deliberately-crashed-airplane-youtube-video-admits https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-ma...
  - reaperman 2y ago
    Most of the large petrochemical tanks on the Gulf Coast have bullet dings in them. Folks just like to take potshots at stuff. Luckily the steel of these tanks are already more than thick enough to handle most small-arms fire. They just take the damage into account when they do corrosion monitoring every few years (those impact spots tend to be thinner afterwards, of course).
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  Have you been thru rural Ohio?
- ls65536 2y ago
  It has happened before with other kinds of large cargo (the type that you really wouldn't want to have undesired holes in): https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276419 https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=276419

secondcoming 2y ago

916k lbs = 415k kg

Workaccount2 2y ago
450Mg! Poor megagram never gets any love!
Alghranokk 2y ago
Which to be even clearer is 415 metric tons. For context: typical max weight for a truck in the US of A is 80k lbs, or a bit over 36 metric tons.
PaywallBuster 2y ago
> Big rigs are limited by federal regulation to a maximum loaded weight of 80,000 pounds including cargo over 10x heavier than the maximum allowed by law
- bowsamic 2y ago
  It's split up into 18 separate loads
  - npongratz 2y ago
    > It's split up into 18 separate loads TFA suggests it's not split up: > Intel will put a 916,000-pound "super load" on the road in Ohio on Wednesday, for a trip that will cover approximately 150 miles in nine days and snarl traffic for over a week... > Four of these loads, including the one hitting the road now, weigh around 900,000 pounds — that's 400 metric tons, or 76 elephants. > Intel's 916,000-pound shipment is a "cold box,"... EDIT: Further information in the ODOT advisory detailing the schedule of this one shipment confirms 916k pounds is not split among multiple loads: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor... > This is the twelfth of nearly two dozen "super loads"... This load... measures approximately 23’ tall, 20’ wide, 280’ long, and weighs 916,000 pounds.

notesinthefield 2y ago

For other Ohioans who were wondering about this : ODOT started talking about the shipping routes a couple weeks ago and contrary to the article, we do have a timetable here : https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisor... Im going between Cincinnati and Columbus several times over the next three weeks and am not looking forward to this even though it seems theyre taking a mostly out of the way route through the SE Ohio farming towns.

TimMeade 2y ago
It's going within about 10 miles of my mothers house... Not sure she would care... But i'll tell her!
Severian 2y ago
Oh god, 33 and Gender Road. That's not going to be pretty for traffic.
jcranmer 2y ago
I've put together a rough map of the route it's taking here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MPubWurLDu4XjMQJ7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/MPubWurLDu4XjMQJ7 (unfortunately, the limitations of Google Maps keeps me from properly marking the final bouncing between Mink Rd and 310--it continues east past Mink Rd to go up OH-310, then returns to Mink Rd on US-40 then returns to OH-310 on OH-16 then back to Mink Rd on OH-161. Not sure why it's not sticking to one or the other way the entire last stretch.) If you're going between Cincinnati and Columbus, you should be absolutely nowhere near this route, as it's going nowhere near I-71.
- Arrath 2y ago
  > Not sure why it's not sticking to one or the other way the entire last stretch. Generally, low overpasses or turns that would be problematically tight. E: Checking street view, for example: that Mink Rd overpass over I-70 is likely either too narrow or not rated for the weight. https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9506421,-82.7300744,3a,75y,13.17h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s-NAUWhw7NV_9Cz443R_tJg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D-NAUWhw7NV_9Cz443R_tJg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D13.169001164822966%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D90!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205410&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9506421,-82.7300744,3a,75y,1...

o283j5o8j 2y ago

"The box is 23 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field." Author doesn't understand football.

swores 2y ago
Either 280ft is longer than whatever type of football field they're thinking of, or it's not. No understanding of football needed for that. You haven't said what part of it you think is wrong - though I do believe that both American Football and Association Football (aka "soccer", or "real football" :P) do both play on pitches a bit longer than 280ft.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

neilv 2y ago

This is worth watching (2m41s): LA Times, "Space shuttle Endeavour's trek across LA: Timelapse" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqZyACCYZc&t=3s

bell-cot 2y ago

> Intel's 916,000-pound shipment is a "cold box," a self-standing air-processor structure that facilitates the cryogenic technology needed to fabricate semiconductors. The box is 23 feet tall, 20 feet wide, and 280 feet long... The weight gives Tom a big number for his headline - but 99% of the problem with this load is the dimensions - which are too big for normal railroads. (Yes, the weight is also large enough to rule out using a heavy-lift helicopter.) Vs. a single 1940's-era steam locomotive+tender could weigh over 1,200,000 lbs. Modern locomotives - where electronic control makes it very easy, flexible, and wage-saving to operate 'em in sets - generally weigh a bit over 400,000 lbs. per.

black6 2y ago
Too long for even the largest Schnabel car in the US (maybe worldwide.)
- bell-cot 2y ago
  Given the height and width (23' and 20'), I suspect the length doesn't matter much. Customizing a Schnabel car is plausible. Raising overpasses, widening tunnels, etc...not so plausible.
giarc 2y ago
"and 280 feet long" Is that an error?
- xboxnolifes 2y ago
  Don't think so. The article emphasizes that it's nearly as long as a football field. So, if it's an error then it's with their source.
  - knodi123 2y ago
    Huh. I usually push against the use of american-style weirdo units to describe things, but I guess one benefit is that if you specify multiple different units, you get automatic protection against typos!

throwaway2037 2y ago

Does anyone know why Intel select Ohio over Oregon or Arizona? I tried to Google for it, but the sources are awful and nothing definitive. Intel has been quite tight-lipped about it. I saw this quote, which seems to be hiding something: <<"I want to give a lot of credit to the governor and lieutenant governor. They pursued us very aggressively," he [Intel CEO Gelsinger] said.>> What exactly is meant by "pursued us very aggressively"? I can only guess.

mindcrime 2y ago
> What exactly is meant by "pursued us very aggressively"? You can pretty much bet it means "economic development" incentives of some sort, combined with a fair amount of personal glad-handing. Intel probably got all sorts of tax-breaks, credits, grants, and FSM-knows what-else as part of the deal to pick Ohio. And the Governor and others probably took Intel execs to plenty of nice steak-houses, strip-joints, exclusive parties, yadda, yadda, yadda.
- CoastalCoder 2y ago
  I hope Pat Gelsinger has more integrity than that, but who knows.
  - justin66 2y ago
    You could have a pretty bleak outlook on government-corporate graft and corruption and still recognize how ridiculous the idea of Mike DeWine and Pat Gelsinger in a strip club is.
    - tonetegeatinst 2y ago
      Perhaps they were bribed using high purity sand or the governor "gifted" some high purity silicon ingots? Unrealistic but it would be histerical to imagine sand or ingot bribery
    - mindcrime 2y ago
      still recognize how ridiculous the idea of Mike DeWine and Pat Gelsinger in a strip club is. I'm not literally claiming that we can state with certainty that Mike DeWine or Pat Gelsinger went to a strip club. That's just an example to illustrate a more general point.

Remmy 2y ago

They've all passed through my town. They coordinated it all with our local sheriff's office and sent out notifications well in advance so people would know to take alternate routes.

chrsw 2y ago

Am I way out of line to assume TSMC will be well past the capability of this fab when in finally comes on line? Not when the current schedule says it will be ready but when the first actual production wafer comes out of the factory.

cogman10 2y ago
Perhaps, though fab advancements everywhere have slowed to a crawl. TSMC might not be significantly more advanced than what it is today when this fab comes online. I believe we are rapidly approaching the end of miniaturization. Even now, node sizes are mostly fabricated just to keep advertising smaller numbers.
- chrsw 2y ago
  The end of miniaturization I can believe. But the end of performance, I'm not so sure.
  - cogman10 2y ago
    I agree, there's definitely more percentages to gain and possibly even new fab techniques that can result in more densely packed chips using less power. However, those will (likely) be exploitable regardless of when the fab was built. The limiting factor isn't likely going to be the fab equipment so much as the techniques used. That's where I don't know that bigger better fabs is going to be the arms race that it has traditionally been.
bitwize 2y ago
> Am I way out of line to assume TSMC will be well past the capability of this fab when in finally comes on line? Maybe, but Apple will own all of that advanced capacity. Those of us who have not bought into the Apple ecosystem will have to slum it with lesser chip processes, which this fab will help with the demand for.

JasserInicide 2y ago

With semiconductor manufacturing being overseas (where lower wages are) for much of the past decades, how will Intel/TSMC opening up locations in the US affect prices? I imagine this just means everything will just get more expensive.

zaphod12 2y ago
semiconductor manufacturing is highly skilled - ie the folks over seas were already well paid. It was a lot more about approvals, permissions, etc, than wages with this manufacturing area. It shouldn't have a huge impact.
- bee_rider 2y ago
  Although, in the US semiconductor companies have to compete for technical people against companies doing the apparently really economically productive stuff—coming up with ad algorithms and playing Wallstreet shell games.

Almondsetat 2y ago

This seems like a super easy target for a foreign actor to sabotage and cause massive economic setback

beeskneecaps 2y ago
Agreed, but I imagine the only setback is for the insurance company.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  An insurance company spreads losses, it does not make them disappear. From a country’s economic point of view, the destruction of an economically productive thing is just as much of a loss, regardless of whether a single business and group of investors/shareholders experiences it, or if it is spread amongst various insurers, and hence their insureds via increased premiums in the future.
cogman10 2y ago
Nah. There are far easier targets with far larger economic impacts. This cold box certainly cost a lot of money, but it won't break the bank, just delay the fab construction. In fact, I could almost imagine that sabotaging this thing would actually have an economic boon as it would allow the roads to operate again (rather than shutting them down for days to move a 10mph mega fridge). Consider, for example, the economic damage of the camp fire wildfires. That was caused by a single downed power line.
- dylan604 2y ago
  >the economic damage of the camp fire wildfires. That was caused by a single downed power line. So why are they called camp fire wildfires if a camp fire was not the start of it?
  - cogman10 2y ago
    Named after the road where it started, Camp Creek. But also named that way because "camp fire" is buzz worthy for media outlets.

paulkrush 2y ago

Here's an image of the huge load: https://www.truckersnews.com/news/article/15677391/expect-delays-as-916000pound-super-load-moves-through-ohio https://www.truckersnews.com/news/article/15677391/expect-de...

01acheru 2y ago
I hate Cloudflare internet... accessing a page from an iPhone... Sorry, you have been blocked You are unable to access parameter1.com Why have I been blocked? This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. What can I do to resolve this? You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.
- mminer237 2y ago
  Here's a direct link on Ohio's website: https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f61841d7-3013-4f35-a278-18c47434187b/IMG_6968.jpg?MOD=AJPERES https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f618...
  - bombela 2y ago
    I get a 404. And I also get blocked on the cloudflare link for some reason.
    - jtvjan 2y ago
      Same. I suspect they're all blocked in the EU to avoid having to comply with GDPR. It's archived here, though: https://archive.today/D0fQZ https://archive.today/D0fQZ The picture from Ohio's website too: https://web.archive.org/web/20240612173428/https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/wps/wcm/connect/gov/f61841d7-3013-4f35-a278-18c47434187b/IMG_6968.jpg?MOD=AJPERES https://web.archive.org/web/20240612173428/https://www.trans...

deweller 2y ago

> ... and 280 feet long, stretching longer than a football field. Was this written by an AI? A football field is 360 feet long.

ecshafer 2y ago
I could see a journalist that just gets confused between yards and feet writing that.
dylan604 2y ago
The unit itself if 280 feet long, but by the time it is mounted on wheels and has a truck in front of it, how long is it then? An additional 80' seems long for just the truck, but this doesn't seem like it'll be a normal cab over tractor type truck

mperham 2y ago

Any insights on why this component cannot be subdivided into smaller pieces?

mperham 2y ago
https://whatispiping.com/cold-box-cryogenic/ https://whatispiping.com/cold-box-cryogenic/

kylehotchkiss 2y ago

Small price to pay for a massive regional economic engine!

sneak 2y ago

So Intel is literally too big to fail now? Maybe they can share offices with Boeing.

ano-ther 2y ago

Where does it come from?

azalemeth 2y ago

A fun little fact is that the load on a road causes damage roughly proportional to the fourth power of its mass – or at least, proportional to the fourth power of the weight of each axel. The US government publication detailing this is here – https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr61g/61g.pdf https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr61g/61g.pdf – in 1962 – and it's become something of a famous approximation ever since.

Keyframe 2y ago
That'd mean that a twice as heavy vehicle would cause 16 times more damage than the lighter one. Wild and not really intuitive!
- nerdponx 2y ago
  And relevant for public policy, as both SUVs and EVs (including EV SUVs) become more common on roads.
  - cameldrv 2y ago
    Or not, because the axle weight of semi trucks are much higher than EVs, and due to the fourth power effect, essentially all road damage is caused by trucks.
    - nerdponx 2y ago
      But semi truck road usage is generally limited to certain kinds of roads and isn't broadly increasing. My point is that the effect of non-large vehicles getting heavier is magnified beyond what people might realize.
      - cameldrv 2y ago
        Trucks basically do all of the damage. Generally they can have 16,000 lbs per axle. With 5 passengers, a Model X weighs 6000 lbs and has 2 axles. 16000/3000=2.66. 5.33^4=807, plus the truck has 2.5x as many axles, so the semi is doing 2017x as much damage as the car. Even in residential areas, package delivery trucks are always driving around, and they often have about 15000 lbs/axle, so they're doing about 625x the damage of a Tesla X. Road damage due to passenger vehicles is just not significant, even if they're heavy for a passenger vehicle.

david_shi 2y ago

Looks like the Mad Max Fury Road caravan

ge96 2y ago

New idiom unlocked

rqtwteye 2y ago

I remember listening to a German podcast about this kind of transport. It's super interesting how much planning is needed before such a transport. Talk to different police departments, check weight limits of roads, corner radius, plan to disassemble some obstacles. Huge effort.

mensetmanusman 2y ago
When this is done internationally, they even have to consider the orientation of the object as it is put onto boat and taken off due to available leverage points on cranes and also how it can fit while swinging. One of our equipment barely fit through an entryway and required half-inch steel dowels to be put on the ground so it could roll for part of its journey.

topspin 2y ago

k-pound? Is that a thing? 458 tons, for someone's definition of a ton. It's important when using imperial lbs to use tons, otherwise we 'muricans can't easily convert it into medium duty trucks in our heads to visualize the mass. ~91 in this case.

fragmede 2y ago

Who is the awesome driver who gets this job? We celebrate drivers of fast cars in Nascar and formula one, how about celebrating slow drivers? where's the 15 minutes of fame for the person driving this rig? I even just watched a movie starring a truck driver and the movie was named for that truck driver.