On June 16, BCTA submitted a letter to Minister Fleming to express significant concern with regards to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) Highway 91/17 Upgrade Project and its inability to accommodate oversized vehicles that transport cargo freight throughout Western Canada.

The letter outlined BCTA’s request to reconsider the Project design to accommodate oversized vehicle configurations, with emphasis on vehicle configurations of carriers immediately west of the Project. Currently the project will create a series of roundabouts and intersections that will not accommodate the off-tracking of oversized vehicles and impair BC’s ability to move breakbulk for generations.

BCTA requests that MoTI prioritize BC’s breakbulk sector when planning infrastructure upgrades on major trade supporting provincial roads by ensuring:

1. All overpasses/height obstructions be built to a minimum height clearance of at least 6m;
2. Where height obstructions cannot be built to a minimum of 6m, that interchanges be designed and/or bypasses be installed to allow oversized vehicles to remain on the provincial road network; and
3. All by-passes and roundabouts be built to accommodate oversized vehicles, including, but not limited to turnpike double long combination vehicles which have the potential to reduce GHG emissions by up to 41 percent.

Additionally, the letter outlined concerns with BC’s permitting system and the hindrance on BC’s breakbulk sector ability to compete globally. Permit delays result in significant costs for carriers/shippers due to resulting daily storage fees, major project delays, and diversion of cargo ships to United States (U.S.) Ports. BCTA is again asking for the Ministry’s support and collaboration to prioritize BC’s breakbulk sector through the following initiatives:

1. Review and amend the current regulatory framework with the objective of moving to a much simpler, commodity agnostic permitting approach where feasible.
   A key option BCTA would like MoTI to consider is to provide a general authorization for term permits that are legal weights with the following dimensions (which account for nearly 43 percent of BC’s permits): ≤ 3.2m width, ≤ 27.5 m length, ≤4.30 m height.
2. Expedite the development of an online permit system with the ability to support multi-jurisdictional permitting.
   In BCTA’s opinion, moving to an on-line system is critical to providing permit consistency and timeliness, and is paramount to increasing compliance. It is increasingly clear that the current manual system can no longer keep up with growing demand for permits.
3. Engage BCTA early, often and collaboratively to allow us to work with senior leadership on the two initiatives above. 

A copy of the letter can be found here .

For background on the issues we raised, see the following Bulletin articles:

• September 14, 2020: “BCTA Urges Gov’t: Take Immediate Action on Heavy Haul Challenges”
• June 8, 2020: “Heavy-Haul Update: BCTA Response to Pilot Car/Width & Length Reviews”
• March 2, 2020: “MoTI Responds to BCTA Safety & Permitting Concerns”
• December 16, 2019:  “BCTA Urges MoTI to Act on Inadequate OS-OW Permit System.”