Transporting transformers occasionally results in them being damaged, but an American company recently had a very bad day.

“It had a conflict with an overpass. The overpass won,” said Tom Schaeffer, chief electrical engineer for Longmont Power & Communications.

Workers at the substation near County Line Road and Colo. Highway 119 planned to install the 14-foot-tall transformer, which is also about 14 feet square at its base, on Tuesday and had brought in a crane to lift it into position. Workers had hoped to finish the substation by the end of this month, Schaeffer said.

That part of the substation project is now on hold while workers from Waukesha Electric Systems repair the transformer.

The transformer was being transported by a private contractor working for Waukesha and hit an overpass near Dubuque, Iowa. 

“It is a highly unusual event for us,” said Dave Goodwill of Waukesha. “They had a lead vehicle with a height sensor … but apparently they had misjudged the height of this particular bridge.”

The transformer has been returned to Waukesha for inspection and repair or replacement, at no cost to Longmont, Goodwill said.

Because the transformers are built expressly for each customer, getting a new one could take months if the city had to wait for the normal manufacturing process.

“Every effort is being made to ensure that our customer receives a unit without additional delay,” Goodwill said.

Work continues on the substation, including construction of a security wall and wiring of control equipment. Power is already running into the station, but the transformer is the heart of the project