A12 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 19, 2003 EXCEL TRUCKING had two of its vehicles damaged in two separate accidents lately because of road conditions and that’s prompted an agreement for better communication to maintain highways. GEORGE CHINN PHOTO Truckers and others agree on methods for better winter roads By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN TWO RECENT accidents on slippery highways involving Excel Transportation trucks spurred a meeting last week which may result in increased communication between truckers and road maintenance contractors in the northwest. The accidents happened on March 5 and March 21 on Hwy 16 west of Kitwan- fa. , Both accidents involved extremely slippery roads leading the trucks to slam into rock wall faces. “The truck went sideways and jack- knifed into the rock face,” says Terrace’s branch manager for Excel, Marty McGee, of the first accident “It was just black ice everywhere, I know because ] went out there and |. was on itas well.” That accident looks to cost $18,000 in damages to the trucks’s tractor and $45,000-$50,000 to the trailers, which were a write-off, McGee says. The cost of damages to the vehicle in’ the second accident have yet to be deter- mined. Fortunately, the drivers in both cases were not seriously injured and no other vehicles were involved. The accidents once ‘again raised the issue of road maintenance standards in the northwest prompting - last. week’s meeting. “In all honesty’ the meeting | was not planned,” says Bulkley-Stikine district (ransportation. ministry operations man- ager Steve Uyesugi, adding his office re- ceived numerous complaints about the roads at the time. “We felt the bést way to deal with this. was to call a stakeholders meeting.” That meeting saw representatives from Arrow Transportation, Excel Transporta- tion, the transportation ministry, Lakes District Maintenance (LDM), which has the maintenance contract in the area the Excel accident took place and others. “Things went real well and | think that’s because we're trying to tackle things on a positive note,” says McGee, The meeting resulted in an agreement to increase communication between truckers on the road and LDM in an effort to highlight trouble spots on area high- ways sO crews Can get to them faster. “A lot of times the contractor may not know what's happening if they’ve left an area and it starts to. snow or rain at that spot,” says McGee.. “Weather can change that fast.” A similar arrangement has been struck between Arrow Transportation and LDM with some success. McGee says he’s happy about the agreement, adding Excel truck drivers are on area highways 24-hours a day, six days a week and know intimately where trou- ble spots are. Lakes District: Maintenance has also done some reshuffling to its schedule to increase ils coverage on the roads, Uye- Sligi says. The contractor used to, stagger its shifts ‘in 6 a.m. -4 p.m. and 6 p.m.-4 a.m. shifts leaving four hours of the day uncovered. “They've staggered their shifts even more to- have coverage 24 hours a day,” he says. The meeting also proved to be an op- portunity to turn what has often been an adversarial debale into something con- structive and positive, both men say. “The biggest thing to me that came out of this meeting was actually intan- gible,” says Uyesugi. “And that’s that we all got together face to face which is much better than driving down the road having problems and just being frustrated at a nameless person.” McGee agrees. “We're swapping information and I’m finding out what they’re doing and how they work their shifts and same thing for us,” McGee said. The group will meet again in October and have chosen LDM to chair the meeting. Haisla oppose dump plans near Onion Lake | HAISLA leaders are opposing the Kiti- mat-Stikine regional district's plan to build a new regional dump near Onion Lake. The proposed Forceman Ridge landfill east of Hwy 37 is to replace Terrace’s current landfill once it’s built. “You have made application to mave a regional dump into Haisla territory with no consultation with the Kitamaat Village Council,” Kitamaat Village chief coun- cillor Steve Wilson said in a letter to the regional district. “We are expressly against any such development. without consultation and ac- commodation to our aboriginal rights in- cluding title,” Regional district officials say they have sent information on the dump plan- ning process to the Kitamaat Village band on at least 11 occasions dating back to 1993, © An estimated $225,000 has been spent on planning the new: dump location over the past six years, The band was first notified of interest in Forceman Ridge as a potential dump site in 1997 and the regional district made formal application in-Apr. 5, 2002 stry. Regional district’ officials wrote the | bund a follow-up letter in July and phoned — twice in September seeking comment. “There had been no response. when’ a referral summary report. was prepared Oc- tober 9; 2002: for submission’ to’ the’ ministry,” a report teleased on the issue to the water, land and air protection mini-. says. A band employee contacted the ministry about the proposal on Dec. 10 and Wilson's letter of op- positian was sent Dec. 18. Terrace city council- lor. Stew Christensen is optimistic the . band will change Stew Christensen ‘its position once it receives a detailed summary of the material sent to it over the years. He also said regional district chairman Harry Nyce — who is also a top member of the Nisga‘a Lisims government — will meet the band on the issue. “I think Mr. Wilson is new and just doesn’t know the whole story,” Christen- sen said, “I think that one will get cleared up fairly quickly.” The new landfill has not yet been ap- proved by the province, -Christensen said the. hope is the regio- na! dunip will be in operation in less than three yénrs..But he:said Terrace’s. partici- pation will ‘still depend on a final esti- “mate ofthe cost of trucking . and land fil- ling of refuse there. MacKay’s Funeral Service Ltd. eicioll SAFEWAY Serving Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers é& Prince Rupért Monuments ' Concerned I persona Bronze Plaques ‘service in the Northwest www.safeway.com Terrace Crematorium since 1946 ? Lom eon, TERRACE TERRACE 4626 Davis Street Sk ICHRYSLER CY Terrace, B.C. 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