MTA battling truck route restriction proposals

WINNIPEG — Residents in some pockets of Winnipeg are urging local governments to scale back truck access or even ban heavy vehicles from certain roads.

According to the Manitoba Trucking Association, some locals want Saskatchewan Ave. changed to a part-time truck route or have commercial trucks restricted totally from the route between Sturgeon Rd and Perimeter Highway.

MTA is currently meeting with City infrastructure officials about keeping the street as a full-time truck route. In the meantime, MTA is asking its members not to use Saskatchewan Ave. as a shortcut, but only for direct access to Murray Industrial Park.

A decision by the City’s Standing Policy Committee will likely be made in September.

Meanwhile, a proposal to prohibit trucks from Waverly St. between Bison Dr. and Perimeter Highway, overnight seven days a week, and the afternoon-evening rush hour window Monday to Friday, was brought to City’s Infrastructure Renewal and Public Works Dept.

After listening to MTA’s response, the Committee denied the request to change the truck route designation on Waverly St., but did lower the speed limit on that stretch from 80 km/h to 70 km/h, the association reports.