Janet Valdarchi and her neighbour Brian Ellison stress they are not against logging or log truckers, but they are concerned that traffic coming out a narrow section on Saxton Lake Road is unsafe.

Valdarchi and Ellison are also worried about the additional logging traffic coming onto Saxton Lake Road from a new piece of road built recently to connect to the Reid Lake area.

Valdarchi lives just off of Saxton Road at the turnoff to Vivian Lake, and Ellison lives at Vivian Lake, about 30 minutes northwest of the city past Chief Lake Road.

The connector road from the Reid Lake area comes onto Saxton right at the Vivian Lake turnoff. The two-kilometre stretch of road from there to the beginning of Saxton Lake Road is of particular concern to Valdarchi and Ellison.

They believe the road is too narrow for logging trucks to pass in both directions, and also believe the increased traffic creates a hazard for people who live in the area, especially when the road is slippery.

Both of them say the stretch of road should be widened, particularly if more beetle-killed timber is going to be taken out of the area.

“You just hold your breath — you don’t want to meet a logging truck,” said Valdarchi.

Ellison said he can’t understand why log truck traffic has been diverted from the Reid Lake area onto Saxton Road since there are more people that live in the area of Saxton Road, which turns into Ness Lake Road.

Ellison, who has started up a recreational site at Vivian Lake, is also concerned that logging trucks and RVs in the summer will be a bad mix. “Somebody is going to get hurt, before this is over,” he said.

The two-kilometre stretch of Saxton Road falls under the responsibility of the transportation ministry.

The ministry’s Fort George district manager Rick Blixrud said the difficulty in widening the road is the province owns only the road top, and it would be costly to purchase private property to widen it. He said there have been measures taken to improve safety, including posting proper signage, ensuring plowing and sanding are done and monitoring speeds. Blixrud noted that three speeding tickets were handed out by ministry staff last week, although he didn’t know what type of vehicles were ticketed.

Although Saxton, as a public road, is not technically a radio-assisted road, forest companies have put up radio calling and mileage signs, which Blixrud said he believes will also improve safety. Log trucks will often let other truck drivers know when and where there is other traffic on the road, he said. Log haulers have also been advised of school bus times as well.

Blixrud said he also believes that there is not likely to be log traffic during the summer months. He also noted that the transportation ministry had spent a considerable amount of money in the region to improve roads to stay ahead of the massive amount of beetle-killed timber being logged. He said $9 million — well above the district’s normal budget — was spent fixing up Chief Lake, Ness Lake and Nukko Lake roads to accommodate increased logging traffic.

“In our long-term plan we’ll look at some of those hot spots, but it takes time,” he said, referring to the section of Saxton Lake Road.

Greg Rawling, the Prince George district manager for the forests ministry, said the Reid Lake connector road was built quickly in January to alleviate concerns about logging truck traffic from Reid Lake residents.

Charges have been laid in a dramatic traffic stop and pursuit early Thursday in which a man was shot by police.

A city cop opened fired while trying to stop a stolen Ford truck on Anthony Henday Drive south of Yellowhead Trail, police said.

Following a chase, officers managed to stop the truck in the area of 174 Avenue and 97 Street.

While arresting four occupants of the truck, police discovered that one of the suspects was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.

The injured man was taken to Royal Alexandra hospital in serious but stable condition.

RCMP have been called in to investigate the police shooting.

Two men – including the one who was shot – are charged with criminal flight, possession of stolen property over $5,000 and possession of property under $5,000.

The other man was charged with dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Their names are being withheld pending the ongoing RCMP investigation.

Nearly two dozen cows were killed when a tractor-trailer overturned on the State Route 840 on-ramp, entering Interstate 65, in Peytonsville Tuesday morning.

84 cows were aboard the trailer when the rig overturned at about 2 a.m.

Some escaped and officials had to round them up into a make-shirt corral, set up beside the overturned truck.

The cleanup extended until late Tuesday morning.

Traffic was slowed to a crawl for the morning commute, partly from drivers who couldn’t resist the urge to slow down and see the roadside rodeo.

A tractor trailer leaves the Broome County Landfill heads north on Knapp Road, when all of a sudden, the driver loses control at the sharp turn.

“It appears to have rolled over one time, at this time the cause can be due to high speed, unsafe speed,” said Sgt. John Lynch of the NY State Police in Kirkwood.

Moments later, crews arrive on scene, working fast to free the driver trapped inside.

“Because the roof was crushed down on the cab of the truck, we wound up cutting the post on the top of the roof and then we folded the roof on down of the road and used that to basically extricate the patient. He was pinned between the floor and the roof of the truck,” said Gary Smith, the Glen Aubrey Fire Chief.

At least two Tulare County supervisors disapprove of a business-license ordinance that would restrict the operating hours and location of taco trucks and other mobile food vendors in unincorporated areas.

he proposed restrictions could be crippling, Supervisor Steve Worthley said Tuesday.
“We’re not trying to drive people out of business,” he said. “We’re trying to regulate business.”

Other supervisors also expressed concern about the ordinance and opted not to vote on the matter at Tuesday’s meeting of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.

Hinduja Group flagship and leading Commercial Vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland unveiled 4921 TT, a 6×4 tractor with a gross vehicle weight of 49 tonnes. This heralds the entry of Ashok Leyland into the highest weight class of commercial vehicles permitted under the Motor Vehicle Act.

The Ashok Leyland 4921 TT features a powerful 210 HP indigenously developed 6 cylinder H series engine. The H-series of engines is renowned for it’s fuel efficiency and reliability. The 9-speed ZF 9S109 synchromesh gearbox facilitates effortless gear shifts and aids fuel efficiency. Anti-lock braking system and a Trailer control valve for synchronized braking of tractor and trailer further enhance the safety of 4921 TT.

The Ashok Leyland 4921 TT is offered with a factory-built twin-sleeper Newgen cab. Aesthetically designed in-house with ergonomically located controls, comfortable driver seat, generous stowage space, excellent visibility and ventilation, the Newgen cab spells new levels of comfort and safety. 4921 TT is offered as a fully built solution for various applications: with three axle trailers, bulkers and with tipping Trailers.

The 4921 TT is designed to deliver maximum customer value in the current rated payload regime. By coupling a three axle trailer, 4921 TT offers a rated payload of about 34 tonnes. The additional payload benefits the customers especially in container, cement, steel coil and over-dimensional cargo movements.

“Ashok Leyland pioneered Tractor Trailers in India in the early 80s and we believe that 4921 TT will be yet another catalyst in the modernization of Indian road transportation, facilitating higher tonnage and rated payload adherence”, said Mr Vinod K Dasari, Chief Operating Officer, Ashok Leyland. “With 4921 TT, we hope to add substantial value to our customers. In customer trials, we found that the incremental payload can boost net profit by over 30%. The 4921 TT will help logistics companies plan their loads better and obtain greater efficiency per trip”, he said. Since these vehicles will ply long distance under the emerging hub-and-spoke model, the country-wide parts and service network of the Company will be a definite advantage.

Priced at Rs 19.75 lacs with Newgen cabin, 4921 TT is also available as cowl chassis. 4921 TT is positioned in what is anticipated to be an emerging high-growth segment with a potential market size of 3000 to 5000 numbers per annum.