The Big Move

In the summer of 2013, the Muon g-2 team successfully transported a 50-foot-wide electromagnet from Long Island to the Chicago suburbs in one piece. The move took 35 days and traversed 3,200 miles over land and sea. Thousands of people followed the move of the ring, and thousands were on hand to greet it upon its arrival at Fermilab.

The move began on June 22, 2013, as the ring was transported across the Brookhaven National Laboratory site, using a specially adapted flatbed truck and a 45-ton metal apparatus keeping the electromagnet as flat as possible. On the morning of June 24, the ring was driven down the William Floyd Parkway on Long Island, and then a massive crane was used to move it from the truck onto a waiting barge.

The barge set to sea on June 25, and spent nearly a month traveling down the east coast, around the tip of Florida, into the Gulf of Mexico and then up the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to the Mississippi, Illinois and Des Plaines rivers. The barge arrived in Lemont, Illinois on July 20, and the ring was moved to the truck again on July 21. And then over three consecutive nights — July 23, 24 and 25 — that truck was used to drive the ring to Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois.

The Muon g-2 electromagnet crossed the threshold into Fermilab property at 4:07 a.m. on July 26. That afternoon, Fermilab held a party to welcome it, and about 3,000 of our neighbors attended. The collaboration is grateful for the support, and for the assistance of all the local, county and state agencies who made this move possible. Please see the Images and Videos page for full coverage of the Big Move.