Dawson Rd. ban could cost truckers millions

Thunder Bay city council's push to block heavy trucks from Dawson Road has caught the attention of Canada's trucking industry, and it doesn't like what it's hearing.

The editor of Canada's biggest trucking publicationsaid prohibiting heavy trucks from using Dawson Roadwould cost the industry millions of dollars.

Peter Carter said the resulting detour would add 16 kilometres to each trip through Thunder Bay. Carter said, given the amount of truck traffic, the increase in fuel costs would be significant.

"It is so politically incorrect today to say, oh we're just going to use more fuel because we're trying to cut back," Carter said. "The scale may not appear very significant to an average car driver, but to someone who travels the road every day all year long the numbers add up very fast. It's a bigger carbon footprint for the city of Thunder Bay."

Carter said he is also worried there may be a lack of signs warning trucks about the restriction. He said unsuspecting drivers will arriveat Dawson Road and be forced to change their plans mid-trip.

"There should be some way of letting those truckers know there's a restriction coming up," Carter said. "Almost every trucker I know knows exactly what strip of highway I'm talking about."

The issue of warning signs is one of the problems for which the city has not been able to find a solution.

Currently, Ministry of Transportation policy does not allow signs to be posted on that route.