Residents lose bid to oppose truck route

Six Sault residents have lost their bid to get a higher-level environmental assessment on the City's proposed truck route between the International Bridge and Second Line East.

"I have decided that an individual environmental assessment is not required," Environment Minister Chris Stockwell says in a letter to Maurice Kukoraitis, the City's director of engineering design and buildings.

"With this decision having been made, the City can now proceed with the project, subject to any other permits or approvals required," Stockwell said.

The City still needs to obtain federal and provincial support for the project, which is expected to cost about $15 million.

Kukoraitis is recommending that the City cover 20 percent of the cost, seeking the remaining 80 percent from higher levels of government because the route will connect provincial highways and the TransCanada Highway to the International Bridge.

Transport Canada officials will visit the Sault the first week of May and provincial officials are expected to join the meeting, Kukoraitis says.

To read a SooToday.com background article on the truck route, please click here.

To see whether the proposed route affects you, please click here.

Update on connecting link

Meanwhile, the City's planned reconstruction of Second Line from Peoples Road to Moody Street has been denied provincial funding under the province's connecting link program.

"Should the City's proposed truck route be constructed, there will be a new route for trucks to access the international border from second line," Ontario Transportation Minister Frank Klees says in a letter to Mayor John Rowswell.

"The route will not require travel from Korah Road to Wellington Street, and that part of Second Line would therefore no longer be considered a connecting link system in Sault Ste. Marie," the minister says.

"Plans to improve border access and the connection of the realigned four-laned Highway 17 (new) with Second Line are other issues which make an assessment and review of the connecting link system in the Sault Ste. Marie area necessary prior to supporting the Second Line project."

Projects expected to proceed

Klees is supporting five other connecting link projects in 2003/2004:

- Black Road (Highway 17), from Trunk Road to McNabb Street(carryover)

- Trunk Road (Highway 17), from Boundary Road to Dacey Road (mill and overlay)

- Bay Street (Highway 17B), from Tancred Street to Elgin Street (mill and overlay)

- Bay Street (Highway 17B), from Elgin Street to East Street (mill and overlay)

- Huron Street (Highway 550B), from Queen Street to Cathcart (reconstruction)

What will happen on Second Line

City officials are asking Klees to reconsider, including the following projects:

- Second Line (Highway 550), from Peoples Road to Korah Road (complete design and relocate utility transmission line on the north side)

- Bay/Pim Streets (Highway 17), Peoples Road to Korah Road (carryover cost)

- Huron Street (Highway 550B), Queen Street to Cathcart Street (design only)

Funding for the 2003/2004 construction season remains tentative, and isn't expected to be locked in until mid-June.

Mel Brechin, the City's commissioner of engineering and planning, is preparing to proceed with whatever projects receive provincial approval.