CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — Terry Naugler is looking forward to spring. That’s when the traffic manager for Frito-Lay Canada can put his LCVs back on the road and continue his company’s participation in Ontario’s pilot project.

"It’s exciting and groundbreaking to the industry," Naugler said.

The potato chip and snack food manufacturer began its LCV program last July, but it didn’t complete its first run until October 28. Shortly after that, the LCVs were put away for the winter, as the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) rules state the big rigs must be off the roads between November and March.

Still in that short time, Naugler accomplished what he wanted to do.

"Our main goal is to get some of our best drivers trained and train one of our drivers as a certified instructor. We’ve accomplished this feat. It’s a great opportunity to prove our guys can run this stuff and to build confidence in our drivers.

"Each driver needs 1,000 km with a certified LCV trainer. Past 10,000 km they can become certified LCV driving instructors. Given the lane destination, 1,000 km is literally one trip to a driver — a route to Quebec. Three are qualified at this time."

While qualifying his drivers didn’t take very long, getting approval from the cities and regions to run the double trailers on their streets and roadways proved more challenging.

Frito-Lay had to file for approval from every municipal jurisdiction in which the LCVs travel. Just getting permission for the trucks to move from the plant in Cambridge to the 401, for example, meant dealing with two separate entities: the City of Cambridge and the Region of Waterloo, as each has responsibility for different roads in the area.

"It was a pretty frustrating summer, trying to get going, but I understand the reasons for it, including the public perception of LCVs," said Naugler.

Frito-Lay — a division of PepsiCo — worked with its transportation engineering companies to examine the feasibility of possible routes, to look at traffic flow patterns, and to examine the safety issues. To cap off the process, Naugler himself went to city hall in Cambridge.

"I met with the mayor and the city council. I wanted to talk about our company, about our safety record and about LCVs in general. We are still facing a lot of restrictions, but it went very well. We’re hoping that once they’re happy with our safety record they’ll relax those restrictions."

The restrictions imposed on Frito-Lay by Cambridge are mainly time of day limits on when the LCVs can travel.

According to Shannon Noonan, manager of transportation engineering for the City of Cambridge, the city will monitor the route and the LCV traffic as the pilot progresses.

She said if things go well the city will work with the fleet to make improvements to such things like turning radius of intersections.

Lay it on the Road: The Frito Lay LCV team

At the Region of Waterloo, Bob Henderson, manager of transportation engineering, personally approved the project. "… I was comfortable with the engineering, as I was involved in the engineering review. Also we have a program for oversized loads and we issue hundreds of those permits a year. Really, in my opinion, this is just another oversized load."

Since Frito-Lay was the first company in the area to participate in the new program, Henderson said it took some effort on the part of the region to accommodate the pilot.

"It’s not a simple process. It took a long time to iron out all the details and the plans," he says. "Eventually it worked, but solely from an administrative point of view, the next one will be easier. This was the first time we did anything like this and we really didn’t see it coming. We just got told one day that it’s here and that companies can apply. We had no idea what the pilot was, and while I’m sure the Ministry did have some media outlets identifying the program, the information wasn’t readily available to us. We had to do the digging."

Henderson said so far no other company has officially approached the region about participating in the LCV pilot, but he has "gotten wind" of others who are working on it. To them he recommends that they look at all their options.

"Make sure your consultants do all their homework before they come here. There are lots of routes to assess. Don’t just assess one and think that’s the end of the story. There are multiple ways to get in and out of the sties, and some are easier than others."

Being chosen as one handful of companies picked to participate in Ontario’s LCV pilot is an important step for Frito-Lay Canada.

Cambridge Traffic Manager Terry Naugler says it gives the company an opportunity to improve its ability to compete and to further its commitment to the environment.

"We have one of the largest private fleets in Canada, but we do use some outside couriers, say about 15 percent. Taking some of the business back in-house by using LCVs keeps us competitive."

Naugler added that, "environmental sustainability is very important to us. We’ve made a lot of improvements including using lighter weight trucks and improving our routes."

While the larger units naturally require more fuel — as much as 30 percent — the company still sees thousands of liters in fuel savings down the road by taking a truck off the road, Naugler.

— by Carolyn Gruske