Dozens of concerned landowners gathered in Weedon Pioneer Community Hall on Jan. 24 for the second open house regarding the location of a future high load truck staging area north of Calgary.
Hosted by Alberta Transportation, the session revealed what EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd., the company in charge of the project, believes to be the best option for the staging: an 8.32-acre parcel of land along westbound Highway. 567 — just a stone’s throw from where the road intersects with Highway 22.
“We wanted to come and show the local landowners the staging location we thought was best,” said Paul Steel, a transportation engineer with EBA. “Choosing the best option was based on the results from the first open house, from the concerns raised by the landowners as well as the trucking industry.”
Steel said the second open house was to reassure the public that their voices were heard during the first session, held Sept. 26. At that time, EBA presented the public with six potential locations for the truck staging area — four north of Cochrane and two southwest of Airdrie.
The resting area is required for the high load (those standing taller than 5.3 metres) and oversized trucks heading from Calgary to Highway 22.
As it stands, City of Calgary bylaw states these trucks need to be out of the city limits by 6 a.m. At the same time, Alberta Transportation only allows the big vehicles to operate during daylight hours.
A pull-over area is required for the months it stays dark in the early morning hours. A permit can be granted for trucks driving a short distance in darkness — like the distance from Calgary to Balzac or Cochrane.
Despite being what Steel called the “best option” for the high load layover location, there are some landowners in the Highway 567-area who are concerned about problems like the lights and noise from the trucks, slower traffic and an increased volume of traffic.
Bill and Lauren McArthur live along Highway 22, across from the Shell Station on the corner of Highway 567, just a little down the road from the preferred location.
Lauren said she’s hoping there will be more discussion before the location is officially decided upon.
“I don’t want it near my house,” she said. “My main concern is the lights and the noise. We’re already affected by the lights from the Spring Hill RV Park — they have two big spotlights that shine right through our bedroom window.”
Steel said EBA is working to address these sound and light concerns. One of the ways EBA has proposed to fix this is by planting an array of plants and trees along the area in an attempt to block out any signs of the big trucks.
Also on hand at the open house was Richard Warnock, president of Westfreight Systems and director at large for the Alberta Motor Transport Association. He said he doesn’t think the staging area will increase traffic volume.
Oversized trucks travelling along the route will be accessing Highway 22 to travel to the Peace region, he said, noting that the route is a designated high load corridor by Alberta Transporta-tion.
“Volume in this area will not increase, unless the area the trucks are travelling to increases the projects in that zone, requiring more trucks,” said Warnock. “But trucks travelling to Fort McMurry will be heading east towards Strathmore to access Highway 36 — another high load corridor. Regular-sized trucks will be sticking to the other highways. I don’t even know if residents will even notice a difference in the volume of traffic along the route.”
The EBA outlined an alternative staging site, should the Highway 567 land be used for other developments.
The alternative would be in the same area, just a few extra metres to the east.
Next up, the EBA will submit a technical report to Alberta Transportation for review.
Approval for the high load truck staging area rests in the hands of Alberta Transportation, said Steel.
Currently, there is no official timeline for the construction, said Steel.
