WINNIPEG — Another announcement out of Manitoba’s Infrastructure and Transportation this week looks to be good news for the province’s truckers.

The province is proposing amendments to the Highway Traffic Act that would allow for heavier loads and for the province to quickly implement detours for trucks during severe weather and floods.

The province says the goal is to add flexibility to the Highway traffic Act. Any changes to the Act’s allowable vehicle weight regulations are currently set by cabinet, and amending those regulations takes considerable time. The proposed changes would give the minister authority to temporarily increase weights or classifications on highways as needed.

“These proposed amendments will help drive rural economic growth by allowing farm and commercial trucks to carry heavier loads on our highway system sooner,” said Transportation Minister Steve Ashton.

Norm Blagden, president of the Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA), said that industry is seeing it as a positive step.

Farmers are on board, too. “This is certainly good news for farmers to know that the minister will have the ability to ensure road weight limits are based on seasonal conditions and not simply on rigid calendar schedules,” said Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, in a statement released by the province.

“We strongly support the flexibility this will give to our industry, particularly in times of emergency such as the 2011 flood when rapid movement of livestock and equipment was essential.”

Specifically, the proposed bill aims to add flexibility in three ways:

1. higher winter weight allowances could be extended by establishing a weather-based approach that would allow roads to remain at the higher weight thresholds for as long as conditions permit;
2. when a road or a bridge is damaged by a flood or other disaster and unable to take traffic, the province would have the ability to act more quickly to give access to temporary alternate routes that could reduce detour distances by hundreds of kilometres, resulting in major time savings; and
3. as highways are upgraded, commercial and farm trucks would be able to carry the heavier loads immediately.

More as it develops.