TERRELL, Texas — Several cities east of Dallas endured serious traffic delays on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Why? Because the Lake Hubbard Power Plant in Sunnyvalle is getting a major new piece of equipment.
According to Sunnyvale Police Chief Bill Vegas, the plant's new 620,000-pound transformer was manufactured in Victoria, Texas. And delivering it all the way to North Texas took some time.
“It’s a very slow-moving process,” Vegas said.
The City of Forney said the equipment has been on the road for more than a week.
Friday afternoon, it passed through Terrell, Forney, Sunnyvale and Mesquite. The delivery forced lanes along Highway 80 to close. On Saturday morning, it was still on the road, travelling eastbound along the Interstate 30 service road in Mesquite while en route to its destination.
But shortly after 10 a.m. on Saturday, Vegas confirmed that the transformer had finally reached the Lake Hubbard Power Plant.
Still, drivers like Sunnyvale resident David Geis were at a standstill in Sunnyvale on Friday as the transformer passed through town.
“Chaos,” Geis said. “It’s just a mess.”
Driver Gene Langpop was stuck in traffic for more than two hours.
“Somebody decided to do it today at this time on a Friday,” Langpop said. “You can’t go anywhere. You’re trapped.”
Vegas told WFAA that TXDOT permitted the load, but in a statement to WFAA, TXDOT said it was not in charge of the operation.
The decision to deliver it starting Friday afternoon was due to safety, Vegas said.
“Because they need a lot of daytime," Vegas said. "[They need] a lot of light with a heavy load like this."
Multiple organizations involved with the project -- including the Lake Hubbard Power Plant -- did not respond to requests for more information.
While this process is tedious, city leaders from Terrell and Sunnyvale said it’s necessary due to the area’s population growth.
“There’s gonna be a lot of houses that benefit from it,” Vegas said. “Kaufmann County, as we know, is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation.”
A spokesperson for the city of Terrell said the addition of the transformer would generate electricity for an additional 125,000 homes.