Trucks parked on the side of the road on their way to Deltaport will soon have a safer place to pull over.
Federal Transport Minster Lisa Raitt announced last Wednesday $16.5 million in federal funding for nine Asia-Pacific Gateway transportation infrastructure projects in this province, including $6 million for Port Metro Vancouver to provide truck staging in South Delta.
Part of the ongoing Deltaport Terminal Road and Rail Improvement Project, the staging area will be at a 16-acre provincially-owned site at the junction of Highway 17A and Deltaport Way and will be able to accommodate up to 140 container trucks. It's aimed at improving safety by reducing truck queuing on public roads and eliminating truck staging bottlenecks in and around the terminal.
The issue of truck congestion on roadways leading to Deltaport began to rear its head again last year, prompting Delta council to ask the port authority to work with the terminal operator to address the issue.
The municipality noticed a gradual increase in container truck traffic, which resulted in more congestion and truck lineups around the port. In turn, that led to a rise in complaints from the public and, on some occasions, police involvement.
Delta staff noted that since the opening of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, additional commuter traffic has started using Deltaport Way, exacerbating the safety concerns related to trucks queuing.
Louise Yako, president and CEO of the B.C. Trucking Association, told the Optimist having a staging area is good news when it comes to safety.
"Having a truck staging area would certainly be helpful and we knew that the port was making this request for funding," said Yako. "Areas for shortterm parking for trucks is
generally a problem and you see it acutely at or near Deltaport because there are no places there for trucks to park."
Noting there are seasonal fluctuations when it comes to volumes of trucks parked and waiting, Yako said the issue of truckers having to wait to access the port is a complex one that still needs to be solved. In addition to spacing out reservations, last year the port also eliminated the opportunity for "double-ended moves" that saw trucks arrive with containers to drop off and then get loaded with another, so now every move is a oneway move.
Yako said the port is still trying to make the system more efficient by better understanding truck movements. Some have been installed with GPS systems to track them.
The provincial government recently announced the construction of a shortterm truck parking area on Nordel Way.
