Semi Carrying Oversized Load Causes Backup On Tulsa Highway

All eastbound ramps from Interstate 244 to Highway 75 in downtown Tulsa are back open after one ramp closed because an oversized load couldn't make the turn.

The truck was hauling a huge heat exchanger built right here in Tulsa.

The oversized load was 125-feet long and sat on 42 tires. It forced a detour on the northeast corner of the IDL because the semi hauling it couldn’t fit around the bend on the northbound 75 on-ramp.

4/22/2016 Related Story: Oversized Load Blocks Downtown Tulsa Highway Ramp

No one was hurt and nothing was damaged, it just needed to be pulled out and sent on another route.

The heat exchanger left Smithco’s plant in west Tulsa where a third party contractor was hauling it to Canada.

“We’ve got over 25,000 of these out there and it’s unfortunate this one got hung up,” Scott Edwards with Smithco Engineering said.

Edwards gave a tour of one of its plants where the exchanger is made for use on compressed gas lines.

“What we do, as they compress the gas, it increases the temperature of the gas, and before it’s injected back into the pipeline have to cool it off, so we run it through giant radiators, essentially,” he said.

Edwards employs about 170 workers and ships more than 400 of the cooling units every year, keeping money and jobs in Tulsa. This is why Smithco is hauling exchangers to Canada, working to make a profit in a tough economy.

"With the oil and energy markets down, we’ve had to refocus, and this we’ve gone a little bit international,” Edwards said.

This is one of four heat exchangers being transported to Canada right here from Tulsa.