LANGLEY, B.C. (Mar. 29, 2005) — The B.C. Trucking Association has responded to a request made to TransLink asking that trucks be banned from River Road between Centre Street to the Delta/Surrey boundary.

BCTA is opposing the request — made by the Corporation of Delta (the municipal government serving Ladner, North Delta and Tsawwassen lower mainland regions) — for several reasons. Among them:

River Road has historically been a truck route, which has resulted in industrial parks and other businesses requiring trucks to have developed along this route, BCTA says.

The roads to which trucks would have to be diverted are not designed to carry the volume of trucks currently using River Road, causing safety concerns. An additional 4,000 trucks per day would be required to access the Nordel Way weigh scale, which is currently having difficulty accommodating the current volume of trucks.

According to the trucking group, River Road remains the most direct route to and from Fraser-Surrey Docks, which is a significant truck generator in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. Unnecessarily forcing trucks to reach this destination circuitously will only increase emissions and operating costs of trucks to and from FSD.

A similar request was made by the Corporation of Delta in 2002, which was not adopted by the TransLink Board of Directors.