Wellington County council has agreed it will uphold its half-load season rules – despite inconvenience for a company that uses heavy trucks.
Dave Turner, the president of Acton Precast Concrete Limited, on County Road 50 in Erin, sought relief from the roads committee for his trucks.
Turner wrote that his company has been operating from the site since 1963, and closing a half-kilometre section of road effectively cuts off his customers and his suppliers for two months while the frost is leaving the ground.
“The very nature of our business requires us to operate heavy trucks, some that would be unable to conform to the five tonne per axle requirement even when empty,” Turner said of the half load rules.
He added, “If we were forced to comply with this annual bylaw, we would be unable to function as a business. As an employer of 13 (10 of whom live in the county), in a time when operating any business is most challenging, the idea of of having to close our doors for two months of the year is unrealistic.”
Turner wrote after a Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer parked at the end of the company’s driveway and ticketed trucks as they came and went.
He said, “For the last number of years, the half load designation on our section of road was a slight oversight. Now, it’s become an issue.”
Turner said the road in front of the plant was repaved a number of years ago, from County Road 125 to the 3rd Line of Erin. He said it was “widened, straightened, reconstructed to highway standards, and paved. It is probably the most pristine piece of roadway in the county. I used to joke that the quality of the road was a testament to my tax contribution. (I was only half joking.)”
County engineer Gord Ough, however, recommended against allowing fully loaded trucks on that stretch of road as the frost is leaving it.
The province allows municipalities to set limits on loads, and “The load restrictions are typically set to cover the ‘spring break up’ period when the road base is at its weakest, which is when the frost is coming out and the road base is drying out in the spring. This provision is in the Highway Traffic Act to enable municipalities to protect these assets.
Ough said the restrictions for loads is designated by bylaw from March 1 to May 15.
Those restrictions apply only when the signs for half load are erected. He said the weather determines when the signs go up, and how long they stay up.
Ough said, “Some roads, even after repaving or reconstruction, need to be protected in the spring.” He said that could be caused by special challenges involved in building them, such as excessive depths of poor soil, high water tables, or the presence of springs in the vicinity of the road base.
Roads committee chairman Rod Finnie told council the committee is recommending keeping the restrictions in place “at this time.”
Councillor Walter Trachsel said, “We know this person is using the road. It seems odd to force a person to break the bylaw to stay in business.”
Finnie said one problem is the road goes through wetlands, and there are some real issues with that stretch because of that.
“There’s not an easy solution,” he said. “It would be real nice if there was.”
Councillor Bob Wilson supported Finnie. He said there are issues with several roads because of half loads, but, “to cherry pick [allow full loads on some and not others] is problematic.”
Council agreed and kept the restrictions in place.
