THUNDER BAY -- The head of Engineering and Operations for the City of Thunder Bay says a new plan for designated truck routes addresses concerns the business community had with the previous scheme unveiled last year.
According to Kayla Dixon, the amended version proposes "taking away the network that was proposed within the city. We will only be looking at having designated truck routes on provincial highways" 11-17 and 61.
Dixon told tbnewswatch.com that this eliminates the concerns businesses had "with restrictions on deliveries always having to come back and forth to the designated truck routes within the city."
The previously-designated in-town routes for big trucks included streets such as Hodder Avenue, Water Street and the Harbour Expressway.
Under the new plan, truck operators will still be required to remain on a provincial highway as long as possible before exiting onto a city street to proceed to their destination.
"Really, deliveries in the city can be done as they are currently," Dixon said, adding that the existing load restrictions on certain streets will also remain in place, although some may be reviewed.
Dixon said the plan "will manage the bypass traffic" that goes through the city.
Plan will significantly impact Dawson Road
Dawson Road, currently used by hundreds of transport trucks daily, will be excluded from the designated route system, as will the Arthur Street corridor.
Dixon said a notice will be posted for eastbound truckers at Sistonen's Corner, which is the junction of Highway 11-17 and Highway 102, advising of the restriction against heavy trucks on Dawson Road and Arthur Street within the city limits.
There will also be other signage along the highway indicating the designated truck routes, to deter truckers entering the city from the east, for example, from turning west onto Dawson Road.
Charla Robinson, president of the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, is waiting to hear more details about the plan, but said "there's a lot of people who want to get trucks off Dawson Road," adding that the new plan appears to be dealing with that issue while "taking everything else off the table."
"Last year they came up with this map, there were only certain streets within the city limits that you could actually drive a truck on, except if you were making a delivery." That plan, Robinson said, "made no sense...So now police are following trucks around and pulling them over to ask 'Are you really making a delivery"? We said 'This is stupid'," she recalled.
City officials will explain the revised plan at two meetings scheduled for Thursday, February 15.
The first, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., will be for the business community and will take place at the Oliver Road Recreation Centre.
The second meeting, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., is a public meeting and will take place at the Italian Cultural Centre on Algoma Street.
An advisory from the city describes them as "consultation meetings...to obtain feedback."
