Designated truck route by-law fails at Thunder Bay city council; three options remain

The road ahead for the proposed Designated Truck Route (DTR) in Thunder Bay, Ont., is far from smooth.

City councillors voted Monday night to defeat a bylaw, which would make the DTR part of the city's official rules and regulations. Instead, council decided to vote down the proposal from administration, after hearing from the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Ontario Trucking Association.

Mayors from neighbouring municipalities of Neebing, Oliver-Paipoonge, and Conmee were also at city hall. Surrounding communities had voiced their concerns the DTR would force all transports onto the Trans-Canada Highway, through their communities.

The DTR narrowly passed through Committee of the Whole in January, by a narrow 7-6 margin. The route has been on city council's agenda, in some form or another, since 2014.

The route would effectively force transports off of Highway 102 and West Arthur Street, and onto Highway 11/17. It would also restrict transports from operating on numerous city streets, except for local deliveries.

One of the issues, brought up by Geoff Wood, the Senior Vice President of Policy at theOntario Trucking Association, was the system the city proposed for banning trucks, using the registered gross vehicle weight.

"When you register a truck, obviously becauseyou're going to need it at times for higher productivity, you register it for as high as you can get," he said.

Wood said that meant drivers who had an empty trailer, or perhaps no trailer at all would still be above the city's proposed weight limits.

It meant very few trucks, even smaller cube-style trucks may not be able to travel city streets without breaking the rules.

He said that would effect drivers trying to get to grocery stores, restaurants, hotels and coffee shops as part of their personal time, and not driving time.

That issue was one of the items raised by councillors as a concern, flagging issues withthe by-law as written.

Referral denied twice

On two occasions, councillors asked to refer the bylaw to administration, to make changes based on suggestions from Wood's presentation. Both times, that referral failed.

Then, it came down to the main vote on the bylaw itself. The proposed bylaw was defeated 7-5.Coun. Aldo Ruberto was absent from the meeting.

When the bylaw was defeated, it caused some confusion for city administration, who now have to figure out how to enact the DTR into law.

From administration's viewpoint, the DTR is still a live issue, with council passing the concept of the route at its January meeting. Therefore, something needs to happen so the issue can be written as an official bylaw.

Council heard it has three options to deal with the DTR, after it failed to pass.

1. Get administration to write a new bylaw
2. Reconsider the bylaw
3. Rescind the decison from Committee of the Whole

Currently, there is no direction from council or administration on how to proceed.