In Photos: Widest Load on UK Roads?

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art of the M53 in Cheshire was closed on Saturday night to accommodate what is believed to be one of the largest objects to be moved on a UK road.

At 26.5 meters long and five times higher than a double-decker bus, the device could only travel three miles off the highway at walking pace.

The journey took several hours as the trucks drove at walking pace (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The part arrived by ship from Thailand to the Port of Liverpool in June (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The £45m kiln section is almost five times higher than a double-decker bus (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire

The structure is part of a £45 million furnace to be installed at the Essar oil refinery in Stanlow and will be the first to run entirely on hydrogen.

It was built 6000 miles away in Thailand and transported by ship to the Port of Liverpool before being transferred to a barge for the short journey across the River Mersey, through the locks in the Manchester Ship Canal and on to a harbor bay near the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port .

Furnace section being installed at Essar’s oil refinery in Stanlow (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The machines reduced the size of the lampposts on the highway (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The cargo towers over a row of trees as it moves onto the M53 (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire

Gordon Beattie, National Highways abnormal loads manager for the North Westsaid: “There are abnormal loads and there are abnormal loads – and this one will fill the highway completely.

“The module will be mounted on two-wheeled platforms – one in each lane – and will look a bit like the bridge of a container ship gliding over the highway.”

The operation required accurate measurements and monitoring at every stage (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The journey took several hours as the trucks drove at walking pace (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire
The oven will be able to run entirely on hydrogen (Danny Lawson/PA) / PA wire