Tennessee Valley Authority
TVA Traffic Alert TVA Moves Big Transformer from Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Facility
March 24, 2011
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A special transporter will briefly close Interstate 24 near Exit 174 in Hamilton County on Sunday, March 27, when a large power transformer is moved from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Plant to a railroad yard in Chattanooga. The closure is expected to last about 15 minutes.
Weather permitting, a transport company will begin hauling the 401,000-pound transformer from Raccoon Mountain's fisherman's parking lot to a rail yard on Wauhatchie Pike at 12 p.m. EDT Saturday, March 26. The unit will be temporarily stored near Interstate 24 for an 8 a.m. EDT Sunday move.
I-24 will close briefly when the transporter reaches the Exit 174 overpass. Because the transporter is too tall to go under the highway overpass, it will travel up the on-ramp, across the median and down the off-ramp.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Department of Transportation will escort the transporter and help with the road closure.
Motorists traveling these routes should use caution.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a corporation owned by the U.S. government, provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia – an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. TVA operates 29 hydroelectric dams, 11 coal-fired power plants, three nuclear plants and 11 natural gas-fired power facilities and supplies up to 33,700 megawatts of electricity, delivered over 16,000 miles of highvoltage power lines. TVA also provides flood control, navigation, land management and recreation for the Tennessee River system and works with local utilities and state and local governments to promote economic development across the region. TVA, which makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money, is funded by sales of electricity to its customers. Electricity prices in TVA's service territory are below the national average.
Media Contact
Travis Brickey, Knoxville, (865) 632-6263
TVA Media Relations, Knoxville, (865) 632-6000