JOHN DAY Transportation officials say the second Omega Morgan megaload will be in John Day over the New Years holiday.

The transport, now parked just north of Mt. Vernon, can begin traveling again at 8 p.m. tonight.

The Oregon Department of Transportation said the load will turn from Highway 395 to Highway 26 and move to John Day, where it will park at the weigh scales on the west end of town until Friday. The ODOT permit restricts travel over the holiday period.

The permit also restricts travel to night 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. with some exceptions on rural highway stretches. Daytime travel is not allowed through the John Day Valley.

The 804,000-pound transport is 350 feet long and about 19 feet tall and about 22 feet wide.

The first transport, which was a little larger, is in Idaho, and a third one is expected to travel the same route in January.

Each carries an empty vessel called an evaporator, used in recovering water from oil field operations.

The rigs are headed through Oregon, Idaho and Montana en route to the tar sands oil region of Alberta, Canada.