‘It doesn’t really resolve the issues;’ Residents along Highway 5A unsatisfied with new sensors

KAMLOOPS — On Friday (Jan. 20), the B.C. government announced sensors will be built into a stretch of Highway 5A near Merritt. The sensors will monitor commercial trucks as they pass, collecting the vehicle’s height, weight and tire conditions and comparing them against acceptable and enforced standards.

For years, residents living along Highway 5A between Kamloops and Merritt have been lobbying for safety improvements to the route. The Upper Nicola Band’s land stretches along corridor. Chief Harvey McLeod believes more action is required to alleviate safety concerns of his community that have existed since the Coquihalla was opened in 1986.

“It doesn’t really resolve the issues or concerns that I have, or others have who live along the corridor of Highway 5A, and that is the trucks themselves and the safety of the citizens who live up and down that corridor,” said McLeod. “It doesn’t address the numbers of trucks. It doesn’t address the driving habits of commercial truck drivers.”

Bob Price, the spokesperson for Stump Lake Ranch, was aware that a government announcement was coming last week, but was disappointed at what he read Friday.

“It doesn’t sound like this news release — that came out Friday afternoon when nobody was available to comment on it — is something that (the government) is all that proud of. Checking the tire pressure of trucks and checking how big and long they are — that’s not going to change anything. We are looking for a bigger solution. We are thinking far outside the box,” added Price.

The sensors, which are set to be installed this spring, will relay real-time information to commercial vehicle safety and enforcement (CVSE) units in the area, a step that B.C. Trucking Association President Dave Earle says will help improve safety but admits is not a silver bullet.

“This is an expansion of that technology where they are going to use to find everybody. The intent behind it is they are going to find those drivers that are using secondary routes to avoid scales, perhaps because they are running overweight or whatever it may be. It’s a really, really welcome step in the right direction,” said Earle.

Highway 5A is used as an alternate route that runs at a lower elevation than the Coquihalla Highway.

“We look at traffic volumes and there are some that use 5A instead of 5. The vast bulk of the commercial traffic in the province uses 5, but there are some who choose use 5A. And again, what this is going to do is allow CVSE to gather the data to say why,” added Earle.

For residents in the area, simply removing non-local commercial trucks from the highway has long been their goal, yet Chief McLeod admits that may never happen.

“What can we do to encourage commercial truck traffic to use Highway 5? That highway was designed with them in mind — Highway 5A wasn’t. How can we change the perspective?” questioned McLeod.