THUNDER BAY – Heavy truck traffic will be steered off Dawson Road and Arthur Street.
Thunder Bay city council after more than four hours on Monday night voted by a 7-6 margin to approve the proposed designated truck route, which will force transports to use the Trans-Canada Highway when coming to or going from the city.
The route is a permissive system that directs truck traffic to enter the city on Highway 11/17 through weight restrictions imposed on Dawson Road and Arthur Street. Trucks are to remain on the Thunder Bay Expressway and Harbour Expressway for as long as possible and use the shortest route to the destination. It designates Harbour Expressway through to Main Street and Island Drive as the route to connect to the port.
Coun. Trevor Giertuga, who championed the push to get trucks off Dawson Road during his nearly two decades as the McIntyre ward councillor prior to shifting to an at-large seat in this term, pointed to city administration’s recommendation to go ahead with the restriction and insisted it’s the safer option.
“This is something I have been dealing with for 18 years. It’s been thousands of conversations, thousands of phone calls,” Giertuga said.
“We’ve had this place packed many times and now people are hoping council is going to do what is finally right and pass what our administration is recommending.”
The latest effort to reroute the truck traffic dates back to 2014, when complaints from West Arthur Street residents prompted the council of the day to direct administration to explore options of adding a weight restriction, with Dawson Road also becoming part of that process.
The report has been frequently met with delays, as further consultation sessions with industry and other stakeholders were carried out. Most recently, the previous council decided to leave the decision to be made by those elected in last fall’s municipal election.
City administration projected that 500 trucks per day will be removed from Dawson Road, with 1,000 trips per day added to the Harbour Expressway extension.
Coun. Cody Fraser, who represents the Neebing ward that is impacted by the Arthur Street entrance to the city, said this was a chance to improve the quality of life for residents on that roadway and Dawson Road.
“There are many new faces in this chamber, including myself. We were elected on a change mandate,” Fraser said. “It’s time to push our city forward in the 21st century. It’s time to shed ourselves of a stale and stagnant mentality that has plagued this chamber for decades. We have to look to the future.”
Neighbouring municipalities of Oliver Paipoonge, Neebing, O’Connor and Gillies all opposed the designated truck route, taking issue with the traffic that had been using Dawson Road being redirected through Kakabeka Falls.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, who was one of the six to vote against the route, said there would be no winners, no matter the outcome. She predicted implementing the route would just move the problem to another area and had concerns about how it would be enforced.
“We have limited resources for enforcement of this whole thing,” Johnson said. “We have social issues. We have major issues that need to be addressed by our police force. It is not stopping trucks.”
Thunder Bay police chief Sylvie Hauth, whose force would be solely responsible for enforcement, admitted she believed there would be some difficulties.
Coun. Peng You, who cast another opposing vote, insisted the city’s location at the centre of North America means that truck traffic is inevitable.
“They are not our enemy,” Peng said of the truckers that pass through. “We need to educate them to respect each other. Meanwhile, we have to educate ourselves. We have to give them space to drive and make them feel safe.”
Lorne Kellar, comptroller for Santorelli and Sons truck centre on Arthur Street, said the business will suffer with truck traffic no longer able to use the roadway.
“When they opened the Harbour extension, Santorelli’s lost 30 per cent of their volume. That’s real numbers,” Kellar said. “Our concern is that we can’t afford to lose another 30 per cent. The truck traffic that is driving by, the majority is filling. There are two fuel stations, one at the corner of Highway 130 and Arthur Street, and Santorelli’s.”
Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson argued that while the detour wouldn’t seem like a big deal on an individual level, there will be a cumulative impact.
“Based on 500 trucks per day, that increases the total of 11,000 kilometres more travel, 125 hours of travel time and approximately 1,165 gallons of additional diesel fuel. The economic and environmental costs are substantial,” Robinson said.
“We know that transportation is a significant economic driver of our community and we are concerned that this will make us to have a reputation of being uncompetitive to business.”
The bylaw is expected to be presented to council in February, with implementation possible this summer.
