The District of Lake Country has placed load restrictions on city roads due to early warming weather. (Black Press file photo)

Load restrictions set on Lake Country roads

A 70 per cent axle weight restriction has been implemented to protect roads during warming weather

  • Mar. 3, 2021 12:00 a.m.

The District of Lake Country has announced a 70 per cent axle weight load restriction on its roads.

The move was made Wednesday, March 3.

Seasonal load restrictions are put into place to protect district roads from damage or failure during the spring when the winter’s frost is thawing and the snowmelt and rain have saturated the road base material. Damage done to roads is usually deeper than just on the surface and can end up costing hundreds of thousands, or potentially millions, of dollars to repair.

Weight amounts depend on the type of vehicle being driven. There are also some exceptions. The restrictions do not apply to:

  • Single steering axles;
  • Vehicles with a licensed GVW of 5,500 kg or less.

Road restrictions are all based on legal axle loading as defined in the Commercial Transportation Act and Regulations; 100 per cent means you can still carry legal axle weights, overweight permits are no longer valid. For example, legal weight for a tandem axle group is 17,000 kilograms, so 100 per cent load is 17,000 kg., 70 per cent load restriction is 11,900 kg and 50 per cent load restriction is 8,500 kg.

The Ministry of Transportation has also implemented load restrictions at this time. All road restrictions across the province are on DriveBC.ca via the seasonal road restrictions tab. Drivers can subscribe to receive alerts pertaining to their routes.

There are no restrictions on Oyama Road along the Isthmus to Sawmill Road or Pelmewash Parkway. You can view Public Notice with Maps of exception areas shown here.

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