THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay city councillor is pushing for action on a long-delayed Designated Truck Route that would force transports onto the provincial highway system and off local roads.
Coun. Trevor Giertuga has put forward a motion calling for an update on the DTR from city administration by Jan. 24, which will be debated at a Monday council meeting.
The route, which was developed as a response to resident concerns and safety issues, was approved by council over two-and-a-half years ago, but a series of procedural snags and changes of heart on the part of some councillors have prevented its implementation through the approval of a new bylaw.
City council voted by a 7-6 margin in January of 2019 to create a Designated Truck Route, which would steer heavy traffic off of Dawson Road and Arthur Street, requiring transports to instead use Highway 11/17.
However, council went on to reject two different versions of a bylaw to put the route into force, with Coun. Brian Hamilton changing voting against, after supporting the motion to ratify a DTR in principle.
It’s left the issue in procedural limbo, with council so far unable to cobble together a majority to pass the bylaw, or the needed two-thirds majority to rescind the original direction to create a Designated Truck Route.
Because council approved the DTR in principle, city manager Norm Gale has told councillors administration is bound to continue bringing back proposed bylaws to enact the DTR until one is passed.
Administration has not brought back an updated bylaw since June of 2020, and the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the current status of the DTR.
For Giertuga, the years of delays have led to mounting frustration that’s only been exacerbated after recent accidents involving transports on Highway 102, which turns into Dawson Road.
“It shouldn’t wait another year,” he said in an interview. “All one needs to do is stand at the lights at Hilldale and see the transports blowing through… There’s been two accidents at Sistonen’s Corners lately with transports.”
“In my opinion, if we had followed administration’s recommendation and implemented the DTR, those trucks wouldn’t have been on [Highway] 102, and we perhaps could have prevented some fatalities.”
Giertuga championed the push to get trucks off Dawson Road during his nearly two decades as the McIntyre Ward councillor, before being elected as an at-large councillor in 2018.
He has expressed exasperation over repeated setbacks on the issue since a previous council first directed administration to explore weight restrictions on Arthur and Dawson in 2014.
“Administration has told us it’s a safer route, it’s their recommendation, and it was duly passed and ratified at city council,” he said. “Now council has an obligation to deal with this, and they haven’t been… In my opinion, council is sitting on their hands and plugging their noses until the next election.”
In 2019, city staff estimated the DTR could remove 500 trucks per day from Dawson Road, with 1,000 daily trips added to the Harbour Expressway extension.
A 24-hour traffic count done in 2016 found there was an average daily volume of 1,500 trucks on Highway 102 between Sistonen's Corner and Dog Lake Road, which amounted to 38 per cent of total traffic.
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.
Some councillors who opposed the route have said it would simply move the problem to another area, and worried enforcement would be a challenge.
The Ontario Trucking Association and Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce have each vigorously opposed the DTR. The OTA has contended the route specified in the DTR may not be "built to the safety standards required to handle the new volume of commercial traffic," while the chamber said it would bring added costs for some businesses and that the city hadn't presented adequate evidence the policy was needed.
Giertuga argues those questions were already decided when council voted for the DTR, and that debate on the proposed bylaws should focus only on the implementation details.
He said he hopes his colleagues will offer specific reasons why they oppose any proposed bylaw in the future.
“I’d hope if a council member doesn’t like parts of the bylaw, they would bring forward a change,” he said. “Noone to my knowledge has [done that].”
