REGINA -- The Saskatchewan Trucking Association says it’s firmly opposed to a proposal being considered by the City of Regina to ban commercial truck traffic from 9 Ave. North.
The proposal was brought forward by Councillor Jason Mancinelli, who introduced the motion at Tuesday’s council meeting calling to remove the Trucking Transport Route designation from 9 Ave. between Pinkie Road and Pasqua Street.
Area residents say they’ve noticed a major increase in traffic along the roadway since the opening of the Regina Bypass.
The STA stated Thursday removing the road as a commercial trucking route could cause a number of problems for the industry like increased travel times, carbon emissions, fuel consumption and overall costs.
Quoted in the release was Travis Beattie, an STA member and the Manager of Transport for Loblaws Ltd. who own a warehouse at the nearby Global Transportation Hub.
Beattie said the section of road is critical for keeping his company’s deliveries to the six Loblaws-owned stores in the northwest part of Regina efficient.
“If this section of road were to be deemed a non-truck route, we would need to run our trucks up the Bypass to Highway 11 and back in down Pasqua St. adding approximately 32 km per round trip,” said Beattie. “Once you factor in the six stores and multiple deliveries per day, this becomes a significant impact.”
The use of 9 Ave. North is a logical and efficient route for the movement of goods to and from this area of the city and we do not support the motion to remove 9th Avenue North as a commercial truck route,” STA Executive Director Susan Ewart said in the release.
The motion will be discussed at Regina City Council’s next meeting on Oct. 28.
