THUNDER BAY, ONT. – – City Council here will be taking a hard look at restricting truck access on a popular freight artery at their December meeting, so if you have any truck with Thunder Bay and your fleets travel on Highway 102, you might want to speak up.

Under consideration is Dawson Road, which is an extension of Highway 102 and Red River Road. About 1,500 locals have signed a petition to City Council hoping to have heavy trucks banned from the road.

If such a restriction were imposed, trucks passing through town on their way west would be forced to travel an extra 10 to 15 km by traveling south along 11/17 and then back north as far as Sistonen’s Corners.

This, suggests Thunder Bay driver Eric Harju, would not only add time to trips, the extra distance would mean more intersections, more risk to other drivers and more energy waste.

“Multiply this by hundreds of trucks per day and you have a lot of extra fuel being consumed. I believe we will save more lives by letting heavy trucks continue to use Highway 102,” Harju said in a letter to the local newspaper.

“And,” he told todaystrucking.com, “trucks passing through Lakehead don’t want to be going through town they just want to keep moving.”

Patrick Mauro, Engineering Manager for the City, told todaystrucking.com it’s unlikely a weight-based restriction will be imposed because there are three gravel pits in operation on the road and a half dozen contractors rely on those gravel pits.

However, he added that the Ontario Highway Traffic Act does allow the Municipality to impose a restriction based on the length of trucks.

“Section 109 paragraph 12 allows the restriction of combination vehicles of more than 15.25 meters,” he says, adding that the City will be considering that possibility at its December meeting.

Mauro added that if any interested parties want to have their voices heard by Council, they should contact himself or the Municipal clerk’s office.