Heavy truck bylaw expected to go back to Thunder Bay council in fall

City councillors in Thunder Bay, Ont., are expected to make a decision in the fall whether to restrict large trucks to specific routes throughout the city, but continue to hear arguments on both sides of the debate.

• Thunder Bay council delays vote on city road weight restrictions

• Thunder Bay may soon restrict heavy trucks on city streets

The latest round of public consultation was held Wednesday evening at the Oliver Road Community Centre, where some, like Hodder Avenue resident and former city councillor Mary Roy repeated her concerns about continuing to allow overweight vehicles through developed parts of town.

"Number one is safetyand, we're in a very unsafe situation because of the amount of trucks," she said. "But, what we were talking about at that time, is the makeup of the street just doesn't work."

The proposed rules currently 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 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.

Councillors decided to hear more input from the community in advance of making a final decision. While some residents have backed the idea, citing safety and road maintenance concerns, others have said several local businesses would be devastated.

• Arthur Street truck ban would devastate local truck stop, staff says

"For every truck that does not come toSantorelli'sto fuel up, we need approximately 10 to 15 cars to replace them," Lorne Kellar, the comptroller for the 65-year-old locally-owned truck stop, told CBC News in April, just before council decided to hear more input.

"So if you're talking 50 trucks, that means we need to have another 650 vehicles a day just to make us a viable enterprise," he said.