Boeing shuts down freeway as it moves massive equipment
Aug 25, 2015, 10:52 AM | Updated: Aug 26, 2015, 11:59 pm
State Route 526, also known as the Boeing Freeway, was closed for two hours Wednesday night as Boeing made a colossal move of heavy machinery. (Boeing)
(Boeing)
State Route 526 in Mukilteo, also known as the Boeing Freeway, was closed for two hours Wednesday night as Boeing moved a massive piece of machinery.
Boeing’s new autoclave is so big that both directions on the highway were stopped from 7-9 p.m., while the move was underway.
“It’s a rather large piece of equipment. It moves about 1-2 miles per hour. It’s about 1.1 million pounds, it’s 28 feet wide and 120 feet long,” said Boeing’s Terrance Scott.
The autoclave is an enclosed chamber that uses pressure and heat during the construction of airplane parts. In this case, Boeing’s autoclave is big enough to accommodate large sections of its jets.
“You can think of it as an oven that bakes those materials and helps mold and solidify them, prior to continuing the fabrication process,” Scott said.
He says the autoclave was built across the highway from the Boeing plant because there was available space.
“You build it where you can afford to and if you’ve been up to Everett recently, you would notice we’re going through quite a significant site transformation…,” Scott said. “Unfortunately, you got to move it from South Paine Field up past the runways and across the highway.”
The autoclave is the first of three that will be part of the company’s new 777x Composite Wing Center.
The Composite Wing Center — a 1.3 million-square-foot building — is currently under construction in Everett.
“Our ultimate goal here is to get it into position to install it and begin final tests, so we’ll be in position and ready to go when the Composite Wing Center is complete in 2016,” Scott said.
Some so-called “AV-Geeks” took pictures and witnessed the Boeing milestone.
