Changes to Saskatchewan trucking regulations will allow heavier and longer loads on the province’s roads, says the highways minister.
New regulations that took effect April 1 will reduce operating costs and red tape, said Don McMorris.
For example, the rules allow tridem drive trucks, or trucks with three rear-drive axles, to tow pony trailers.
They also increase the weight for tridem drive B-trains on secondary weight highways.
Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president David Marit said the regulations will affect mainly service trucks in the rural oil sector.
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Marit said the number of tri-drives has increased, and SARM delegates passed a resolution a few years ago calling for heavier truck-trailer combinations on highways to move product more efficiently.
“You cut down on the number of trucks by increasing the weight.”
McMorris said RMs thought this was the best way to control traffic in the absence of being able to set different speed limits for different classes of vehicles.
Marit said slowing heavy trucks to 60 km-hr from the regular 80 km-h limit would decrease damage, but that practice isn’t allowed. He also said tri-drive grain trucks aren’t in widespread use yet, but super B-trains weren’t at one point either.
