VICTORIA – Long-combination vehicles (LCVs) have hit the highway between Burnaby and Kamloops under a new pilot project to evaluate the vehicles’ impact on provincial roads, said B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.

“If these vehicles work well under this pilot, we’d like to run them on this stretch of highway over the long term,” said Falcon in a press release. “Long-combination vehicles can haul about 40 percent more freight than regular trucks of this type and that means more efficient movement of goods, fewer trucks on our roads, and lower emissions.”

The LCVs will take the form Rocky Mountain doubles — a truck tractor and semi-trailer combination that is six metres longer than standard vehicle combinations (traditionally a 48-ft trailer coupled with a smaller 28-ft unit) of this type.

During the pilot, the ministry will monitor and evaluate the safety record of the vehicles, as well as consider any feedback from other road users. Fuel consumption savings and related greenhouse gas emissions will be tracked to measure environmental benefits.

Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs), for example, are common fixtures, with conditions, on highways in Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, as well as 17 U.S. states.

The pilot project is expected to run until the end of October and will see as many as eight LCVs on highways 1 and 5 between Burnaby and Kamloops each day.

The vehicles, which will not run in “inclement weather” must have anti-lock braking (ABS) systems and must meet the ministry’s stringent permit conditions on weights and dimensions. Trucks will also include onboard recording device or computer to measure speed and time, as well as an electronic log book recorder.

Drivers must have a minimum of 24 months driving experience and have passed a medical within the last 24 months, a professional driver improvement course, the LCV training course, and have no more than three moving violations in the past 36 months.

The ministry conducted a successful initial trial run of long-combination vehicles on the same route last fall.

As Today’s Trucking reported in the last June issue, several Canadian provinces are considering either expanding their respective LCV networks or working on pilots to introduce the combinations for the first time.

Ontario and the Maritimes are two of the jurisdictions that would benefit most from a turnpike double network in Canada, according to a new study commissioned by the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) in co-operation with Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada, and the Canada Safety Council, among others.

In Quebec, where LCV permits are withdrawn between December and February, the Quebec Trucking Association is negotiating with the transport ministry for year-round operations.