300-Plus Ton Machine Press Heading Through Cobb County

Metro Atlanta motorists will likely be sound asleep when a 638,000 pound machine press passes through the area Thursday night and Friday morning, but GDOT still wants drivers to be aware of the route the massive machine is taking.

GDOT says the machine will leave the Augusta area at 8 p.m. Thursday, take I-20 to Newton County, continue on I-20 west through DeKalb County, then get on I-75 north through Fulton and Cobb Counties before reaching its new home in White, part of Bartow County.

The machine press is so big that it will take two lanes of traffic and could even force some areas of traffic to come to a complete stop, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. The vehicle carrying the massive load will be escorted at all times by two Georgia State Patrol cruisers and motorists will see moving message boards mentioning delays at bridges and intersections.

The president of the company receiving the machine press tells the AJC it will be used to create hot-formed, triple-strength steel for lighter automobile bodies.

Here’s the general route the machine press will take Thursday and Friday.