Truckers are frustrated but resigned to being steered off Nanaimo Street on their way into the port two weeks before a pilot project starts. The redirect sends them down Clark Drive and east along Hastings Street to Highway 1, as part of their route into the port.
The pilot project is designed to address East Side residents safety concerns regarding container trucks travelling along Nanaimo Street as a shortcut into the port after the Clark Drive access was closed to incoming container truck traffic late last year.
Trucker union members met for a general meeting Sunday and the Nanaimo Street restriction and route changes were among subjects discussed.
The membership is basically not happy with it. Theyd rather see Clark reopen and basically it be back to normal. We feel like were getting pushed around, shoved around quite a bit, and weve got no choice but to take whatever they give us, said Paul Uppal, service representative for the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Container Truckers Association CAW local 2006. Weve got to take it. If you dont take it, you dont make a living. So what do you do? Its not really a democratic society in that sense.
Uppal said members indicated they still favour the Clark Drive access. He added the longer route along Hastings creates traffic congestion, which worsens during events such as the PNE. Truckers dont think the port should be able to dictate what route they use outside port property.
The city has initiative over it and if they change it from a truck route, then fair game, right, he said. But the membership isnt really happy with the port making decisions that you cant travel on certain roads.
The port has contacted Uppal about truckers concerns and a representative told him about plans to build roadway on port property. [He] invited us to come and see them sometime in September, Uppal said. I dont think itll improve this situation. Itll improve their situation on the dock about them getting trucks travelling through. [But] hopefully, if they do improve thatthe rail switch and all that stuff there, and then theres enough space, I think they might be able to open up the Clark Drive entrance. [The port said] theyre going to re-look at it at that point, but until that thing is built theyre not going to be able to do anything with it.
Meanwhile, Advocating for Container Trucks off Residential Streets (ACTORS), a non-partisan group of local residents concerned about dangers stemming from the closure of the Clark Drive access to the port, wrote a letter to the B.C. Truckers Association in response to an earlier Courier story about truckers reaction. The letter states the group is not interested in creating problems for truckers, but its members are worried about residents safety, particularly the safety of children.
We believe that the Ports decision to close the Clark Drive entrance was not planned out in a sustainable fashion and that the decision to push container truck traffic further east onto city streets that are not appropriate for large trucks of this nature has caused problems for all parties involved, with the exception of the port, wrote Cynthia Farnsworth, who represents ACTORS.
Farnsworth added that the added time and distance on the new route into the port increases costs and complicates profit margins for container truck drivers and adds to emissions.
The group isnt only concerned about container truck traffic on Nanaimo Street, but she pointed out 19 schools border the route and pedestrian lights and crosswalks dont seem to be effective for trucks carrying large loads, which make it difficult for them to stop.
ACTORS posted a video on its Facebook page of a truck going through a red light at an intersection July 8one of several similar incidents that day.
In my opinion its simply a matter of time before there is a serious fatality on Nanaimo Street if container trucks are permitted to continue on this route, Farnsworth wrote.
Twitter: @Naoibh
