Thunder Bay council delays vote on city road weight restrictions

A proposed bylaw change in Thunder Bay, Ont. that would govern where most heavy truck traffic can and can't go in the city has hit another speed bump.

Council voted to refer revised regulations that would set new weight restrictions for vehicles on city streets back to administration at its March 27 meeting, citing concerns about the clarity of some of the language in the bylaw.

• Thunder Bay may soon restrict heavy trucks on city streets

"I'm not trying to derail it, but I want to make sure that when we write a bylaw, it actually says what we say it says," said Coun. Iain Angus, who moved the referral.

The proposed new rules would mandate that vehicles driving on most Thunder Bay roadways weigh no more than 15,000 kilograms. That would mainly affect some dump trucks, tractor trailers and pulp and logging trucks.

Unless those overweight vehicles have a specific destination on a restricted street, the majority of heavy truck traffic would be funneled along Highway 11-17 and Highway 61. The specific wording around exceptions drew councillors' concerns.

The corridor that includes Hodder Avenue south to Main Street via Water Street would also be open to overweight vehicles, as would routes between the East End and Mission Island, among a couple of others; in most cases, large trucks would be banned from Dawson Road, Oliver Road and Arthur Street W.

The bylaw, with revised language, is expected to be back before council in about a month.

'Been on the books forever'

When the proposed bylaw makes it back to city hall, councillors may not be done tweaking it.

Residents along Hodder Avenue brought concerns to council Monday over allowing the Hodder Avenue-Fort William Road corridor to remain a route for large vehicles. Current River ward Coun. Andrew Foulds also proposed an amendment to restrict traffic along that thoroughfare, but it wasn't voted on as the matter was referred.

"We're a busy little hub on our own," said Mary Roy, a former city councillor and one of the Hodder Avenue deputants. "And we've worked very hard to try and make it safe in every way we can."

Others on council wanted to see the issue dealt with once and for all.

• Thunder Bay tackles large truck route designations

• Braking big rigs on Dawson a challenge for council

"This has been on the books forever," said Coun. Trevor Giertuga, who has been working for over 10 years to get large trucks off Dawson Road.

"Now someone, in the final hour when we've been talking about this for five, 10 years ... says 'hey I'm gonna add this road, because there might be issues.' I'm just not happy with it."

Some councillors also raised concerns about whether businesses and other stakeholders were properly consulted on the proposed changes. Administration argued that the city spoke with many groups.