Truck drivers are angry at having to roll to the right

Photos Axel Marchand-Lamothe
Like many other truck drivers, Alex Girard laments the pilot project of the MTQ.

Axel Marchand-Lamothe

On Thursday 21 December 2017 21:28

UPDATE
On Thursday 21 December 2017 21:28

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Truckers are angry that the ministry of Transportation requires them to use the right lane on route 201 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, complicating the traffic for both them and the residents.

“This is not very strong. We get cut off by cars who want to go into the shops, ” says Alex Girard, who travels the route regularly to travel from Montreal to Toronto at the wheel of his semi-trailer truck.

Since Monday, a pilot project of three months prohibits trucks in the left lane of the boulevard Monseigneur-Langlois route 201) between 7 h and 19 h.

The truck drivers use the route 201 connecting highways 530 and 20, which separates Valleyfield in two, to avoid paying bridge tolls of highway 30 as well as a weighing of road.

Photo Axel Marchand-Lamothe

René Verfaillie
Trucker

“We should rather leave us in the left lane, suggests René Verfaillie, a driver of a Transport Delson. We are only passing through. One only wants to pass through quickly. “

Randall Smith, an independent contractor in the Ontario, abounds in the same direction, underlining also that the price for a passage on the bridge with his vehicle, to a little over $ 14 is too high.

Pricing

It is also what keeps the president of the Association du camionnage du Québec, Marc Cadieux.

“The problem, it is the tariff increase of 78 % in the three years of the toll road on highway 30. “

He deplores the fact that a modulation of the rate they had proposed to the working committee of the MTQ has not been included to create an incentive to paying bridge tolls.

“The current project of the MTQ, it creates a lot of frustrations,” he said.

The director general of the consortium NA30, manager of the bridge paid for, reminds us that approximately 3300 heavy vehicles daily use the road link.

“We apply the tariff schedule of the MTQ, as provided for in the agreement,” says Marc Desserrières.

Blocked entries

During the passage of the Newspaper on Thursday, several trucks crammed to the right were blocking the passage for motorists who wanted to get in the shops located in the stretch of 2.5 km. A situation that complained also of the residents.

“They needed to do something, but it will not solve the problem completely,” says Jules Julien.

“It is a good thing to get out of the city, otherwise it would take an eternity [when they were two-wide],” says for its part, Evelyne Moreau, a retired.

The significant increase in heavy vehicles since the opening of the bridge, paid in December 2012 has led to Valleyfield to claim measures to ensure the smooth flow of traffic. On the 30 000 vehicles using the road each day, about 10 % are trucks, calculates the MTQ.

“It was the solution more feasible in the short term,” says Marie-Michèle Pilon, spokesman for the regional branch of the MTQ Montérégie.

According to her, other measures have been studied, such as the modulation of the tariffs, but could not apply within the required time frame.

The Sûreté du Québec and road traffic controllers have all the same drivers in the eye to enforce the new measure, which is clearly indicated.

A meeting is planned in January to provide an update on the project.

– With the collaboration of Vincent Larin