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ABC News
ABC News
Environment
By Ewan Gilbert and Luke Wong

Call for patience as giant wind turbine blades transported over Blue Mountains

The transportation of giant wind turbine components is expected to cause minor disruptions to traffic along the Great Western Highway, west of Sydney.

Heavy vehicle transport operator Carl Andrews said the operation would take place over several months.

He urged other road users to be patient if they encountered his team's trucks or were held up at designated traffic stops.

"If you're coming towards us it'll only be five minutes at most, and probably 15 to 20 minutes [if you're] behind," Mr Andrews said.

"We're not going to hold you up long."

Piece by piece, his team is driving the components for a wind farm from Newcastle to near Mudgee in central-western New South Wales.

Mr Andrews said some parts could be taken on quieter country routes, skipping the traffic and more populated areas.

But the 20-tonne, 68-metre-long turbine blades were too big to move around many of the corners on rural roads.

The team had no choice but to tackle the busy Great Western Highway over the Blue Mountains and then down the steep Victoria Pass, Mr Andrews said.

"That was the only way we could find to get them there."

He said police and traffic control teams would put in rolling roadblocks for parts of the journey, with operations taking place during the early hours to minimise disruption.

Delays expected

The Transport for NSW Live Traffic website advises motorists that a series of 70-metre-long loads will travel down Victoria Pass and up River Lett Hill, south of Lithgow, early on Monday to Saturday.

Eastbound traffic will be stopped at River Lett Hill and the bottom of Mount Victoria while the trucks pass through.

Drivers can expect to be stopped for up to 25 minutes between 4:00am and 5:00am.

Westbound motorists will experience delays and will need to travel at low speed while following the oversize vehicles, the website advises.

The truck movements are listed to occur until September 25.

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