Jess McDiarmid
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Truckers want the city to widen the lanes of Old Airport Road at the "Co-op corner," which they say they can't navigate in some rigs without hitting the curb.

"You actually have to go out into oncoming traffic to make the corner with certain trailers," said Alex Debogorski, governor of the Northwest Territories Trucking Association. "It's dangerous."

He said even cars have trouble negotiating the tight turn, which is on the only truck route to the Kam Lake Industrial Park.

"That corner is good for smart cars but a smart car won't haul a very big load of toilet paper," he said.

Blair Weatherby, president of the association and owner of Weatherby Trucking, said they went to the city when the corner was being re-done about three years ago.

"We looked at it and said it won't work for our trucks and trailers and the city said they'd look at it," said Weatherby.

He said he knows engineers say it's possible to make the corner in a large truck but that it depends on the vehicle.

"We have to cut off traffic to make that corner and everytime you hit a curb you're doing damage to your tire," he said.

Two Kam Lake trucking companies are having further headaches because they aren't allowed to bring Rocky Mountain Doubles - trucks with two trailers - past Borden Drive without leaving the second trailer at the Bristol Pit across from Kingland Ford.

That means extra time, hassle and money for drivers and companies, as they have to go back and forth to get both trailers to their truck yards.

"We're losing at least an hour and a half out of each run during the day, especially in winter because everything is freezing up, drivers are out there in 30 below trying to unhook the trailer," said Bob McKillop, branch manager at Matco.

McKillop said it's also a safety concern as trucks are doing twice as much driving through the city as they'd otherwise have to.

"It doesn't make sense ... They've got us travelling icy roads back and forth with empty trailers."

Jim Saunders, of Grimshaw Trucking in Kam Lake, said the companies now have to enter into a lease with the city to use the spot at Bristol Pit for parking, including paying for a land survey and an environmental deposit.

"The biggest beef is that it is an industrial park that we're in. It's a truck route and we cannot bring our trucks, our full combinations, through," said Saunders, who also serves as secretary-treasurer for the NWT Trucking Association.

Large trucks weren't allowed to drive on city streets at all until a few years ago. Greg Kehoe, director of public works for the city, said the corner at Kingland Ford was widened to allow trucks to get down Old Airport Road, with the cutoff being Borden Drive.

Companies with over-sized trucks located on Old Airport Road can drive right into their yards while those in Kam Lake can't.

Kehoe said Rocky Mountain Doubles are forbidden by law from driving on city streets for more reasons than the Co-op corner, which he said was engineered and designed for trucks.

"It's public safety," he said. "The larger the vehicle gets, the more of a challenge it might be to manoeuvre."

The city made an exception by allowing the vehicles up to Borden Drive, he said, and made the provision to park secondary trailers at Bristol Pit.

"But not to drive through the city," said Kehoe. "We're not unique in municipalities, restricting trucks going through city streets."

The city is pursuing building in the airport bypass road in part to make it easier for trucks to drive into the city but it's not known when funding will come through for the multi-million dollar project.

"It's dependent on funding. Things are moving ahead, Engles Business District is open for business and people are starting to buy lots and move in," said Kehoe. "So the more lots that are sold, the more money the city will have."

The department of Transportation is sharing costs with the city and also looking for funds.