Following a May 15 meeting, City of East Peoria officials have agreed to allow Landwehr Construction, Inc. of St. Cloud, Minn. to begin trucking massive windmill components through East Peoria the last week of June. Stored west of the Cedar Street Bridge at the rail yards, the turbines will be moved, with the help of the Illinois Department of Transportation. They are bound for the Walnut Ridge Wind Farm project in Bureau County. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller / for Chronicle Media)

A surplus of wind turbines earmarked for a Bureau County wind farm have piled up at an East Peoria rail yard, and city officials are anxious to get them out of town.

Since March, the components for 106 wind turbines have begun to stockpile at the rail yard west of the Cedar Street Bridge in East Peoria, that reaches from Columbia to Wesley roads.

Getting the turbines there wasn’t a problem; the parts arrived by train. The issue for the city is getting them out.

Much like a cul-de-sac, the rail yard has few access points in which to transport the equipment away from the site.

“Didn’t have a lot of heads up time to plan this. They pretty much had their plan and we balked a little bit,” East Peoria Public Works Director Dennis Barron said at a May 15 city council meeting. “Ultimately this is about the least impact of anything in order to get it to go and get them out of town for where they’re going.”

The solution, truck the lot, piece by piece, away from the site and through East Peoria during the early morning weekday hours.

This type of move is normally only done during the day,” East Peoria City Manager Jeff Eder said. “Letting them do it at night is a big rule change and big benefit to us.”

It takes nine trucks to move a single turbine and each turbine consists of nine pieces. The highest load is 15 feet. Each turbine blade is 204 feet long, and the heaviest of parts, the generator, weighs around 260,000 pounds and must be moved by a 13-axle truck.

Towers and blades for a 14,000-acre Bureau County wind farm, which have begun arriving by rail since March, must be moved safely from the rail yard in East Peoria. City officials agreed May 15 to allow the transport two turbines per day on weekdays between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller / for Chronicle Media)

Because of this, access west on Wesley Road is out of the question. The gravel road that runs along the river to Interstate 474 would need major improvements to accommodate the traffic, Barron said.

Instead, the turbines will be trucked east, from the rail yard at Columbia Street, south on Washington Road, then east again on Main Street until merging onto eastbound U.S. Route 24.

The move will begin the first week of June and is expected to last until the first week of September.

Landwehr Construction Inc. Of St. Cloud, Minn., in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Transportation, will be allowed to transport two turbines per day on weekdays between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., and must be clear of the East Peoria city limits by 6 a.m. each shift.

“These are professional drivers, this is all they do is move these things,” Barron said. “These guys know what they’re doing. They’re very good at what they do and I’m sure there’ll be very few problems or questions.”

Returning trucks won’t require special access.

The turbines are bound for a 14,000-acre site in northern Bureau County, dubbed Walnut Ridge Wind Farm project. The 210 megawatt wind farm is a development of Geronimo Energy, LLC, out of Edina, Minn.

— Wind turbines getting trucked out of East Peoria —