Road bans are probably, at Mother Nature's whim, a few weeks away but the forest industry and the trucking sector are being urged already to make preparations.
"With the cold snap this week, it might seem early to be talking about spring road restrictions, but now is the time for people to plan their activities, prior to restrictions coming onto highways and roads in the next few months," said Prince George MLA Shirley Bond, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.
It is her department that has to maintain the majority of B.C.'s roads so she is leading the call to protect them from the damage caused by heavy loads during the moist times of spring. When the frost lets loose from the surfaces and bases of trucking routes during the annual thaw, that is when a heavy hauler can punch a road to pieces.
"The load restrictions are based on the physical carrying capacity of the road," she said. "In the winter, roads are frozen solid and can withstand many heavy vehicles, which is why you see the bulk haul of logs during that time. In the spring the water frozen in the road thaws and the road bed becomes relatively weaker."
Local trucker Stan Wheeldon said the government's annual road restrictions are only part of protecting the road system. No driver wants to put an expensive rig over deep holes and ruts, and no forest company wants to pay for avoidable road and mechanical repairs. So why in good conscious, he said, beat up the very roads you have to drive every day?
It is a ticklish move to make, however, said Wheeldon. Assessing when to stop driving on thawing roads causes a major upheaval to both the forest harvesting sector and the log hauling sector. You have to stop working during the warm daytime hours and cram in all the productivity you can at night.
"It's not a whole lot different but there is more darkness. It means start at seven or eight o'clock at night and be done by seven or eight in the morning," he said. "As much as we moan about it, when you think about keeping the roads from being beaten up and your vehicle from getting beaten up, it's a pretty important step to take."
A few days of thawing and a warm trend in the forecast can cause the bans to go on, but then the cold can return and cause the switch-over to nighttime hours to be premature.
It is easier for everyone if the road restrictions happen over a weekend, said Wheeldon, to accommodate sleep patterns and shift changes, but going one day too long on warm roads can add exponential damage. "Sometimes they have to do it to us midweek."
The good news for the industry, no matter what the weather, said Wheeldon, is the amount of wood being moved out of the bush this year. After about three years of stunted winter harvesting and hauling, he said, the trees are moving at an exciting pace this year.
If haulers require details on which roads will be restricted, said Bond, they are encouraged to contact the local district transportation office and plan their activities early.
