Quesnel City Council passed a motion to allow nine-axle trucks onto industrial municipal roads on Tuesday night (June 19).
The motion is intended to allow the larger trucks access to local mills north of Quesnel. Before the motion passed, nine-axle trucks were unable to access any mills south of Dunkley. The largest truck previously accessible to the local mills was an eight-axle.
Mayor Bob Simpson says the motion will make Quesnel mills more competitive when it comes to accessing and transferring logs, as all their major competition to the North already has access to the larger trucks, as well as the cost savings and efficiencies that come with them.
And there are other benefits, too, Simpson says.
“It’s a reduction in the number of trucks on the road, it’s a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.”
He adds that for the mills, it’s also becoming harder to find qualified drivers. Using larger trucks to transport their lumber will help them combat this problem.
The trucks will be allowed on the first 875 metres of the Quesnel-Hixon Road off Highway 97; Finning Road; Carradice Road; Brownmiller Road; McLeod Avenue; and Rome Avenue. The motion also included a recommendations for council to keep an eye on the possible increased rate of deterioration of these roads with the heavier trucks.
Local mills are on board for this change.
Stuart Lebeck, the woods manager for West Fraser Mills, echoed the mayor’s sentiments in a brief statement sent to the Observer: “We think this is an opportunity for a win-win. Nine-axle trucks are well-designed for the payloads they transport. Nine-axles can improve street safety by reducing the number of trucks on the road while sustaining the same volume of supply to and away from our operations.”
While the trucks will be allowed on municipal roads north of Quesnel, the city is still considering allowing them through the city itself and on the Johnston and Moffat Bridges.
“The city is in the process, in partnership with the industry, of doing a comprehensive structural analysis of the Moffat Bridge and the Johnston bridge,” says Simpson. He says the industry is paying for the assessments.
Before they can allow the trucks through the city, they first need to know if the bridges can handle the weight. Simpson gave an example of an accident blocking traffic on the Moffat Bridge and it’s covered end to end in nine-axle trucks – is it structurally able to handle such stress?
Simpson also highlighted other safety concerns. He says both the Johnston and Moffat Bridges have sharp corners on their ramps, and that there have already been complaints of large trucks “bullying” their way into merges.
On top of that, he was also concerned that the larger trucks might be less willing to stop when they need to, as braking with the increased weight could cause more wear and tear on the engine.
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