Oversize load waits at the edge of town

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A SpaceX first stage rocket sits near the city limits near the end of June. [Bryan Mordt]

An oversize load is sitting along State Route 238, just east of Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Course, ready to move slowly through Maricopa on its way to New Mexico.

According to EZE Trucking, the cargo is a first-stage rocket component for a flight to be launched by SpaceX.

The load set to move through town is a whopping 185 feet long, the equivalent of an 18-story building, and 14 feet, 6 inches wide. At 16 feet tall, it has a gross vehicle weight of 236,651 pounds or 118.3 tons. It sits at milepost 42 on SR 238, waiting to hit the road at 2 a.m. Tuesday.

The load is very slow-moving and requires a minimum of two Arizona Department of Public Safety patrol officer escorts, with four officers required for navigation through the cities of Maricopa and Casa Grande.

Once it gets going, the convoy will head east on SR 238, then turn south on State Route 347 through Maricopa. DPS will provide access to the westbound lanes of SR 238 so the vehicle can make the turn onto SR 347. Unable to make the turn into the southbound lanes, it will use the northbound lanes until shifting back to the southbound lanes at the first available traffic signal.

The rocket will move south on SR 347, pass under the John Wayne Parkway overpass on North Maricopa Road and head east, then south on Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway. It will continue to Casa Grande, then eventually merge onto Interstate 10, heading east to the New Mexico state line.

The path the rocket is planned to take through the city.

Drone video can be found here…