As Published in the Portage Daily Graphic June 10 2008

The City of Portage la Prairie is driving forward with plans to designate two city roadways as truck routes.

At Monday’s city council meeting, councillors voted to approve an amendment to the traffic bylaw that will see sections of Crescent Road East and Tupper Street South turned into truck routes in order to give heavy traffic access to the temporary causeway currently under construction west of the Crescent Lake bridge.

Council was poised to approve the amendment at its May 26 meeting, but decided to defer the decision after meeting stiff opposition from local residents.

The city’s transportation committee met with city engineers and the RCMP last week to look into any compromises that could be made.

“In our committee meeting, we were very cognizant of the opinions expressed at the council meeting two weeks ago, albeit that the project had to go ahead,” explained transportation committee chairman Coun. Orville Wagner after the meeting. “I don’t presume to suggest that everybody is going to be satisfied — as a matter of fact I’m sure they’re not — but it’s one inconvenience that that section is going to have to put up with.”

The changes will mean the north side of Crescent Road from Tupper to Royal Road and the west side of Tupper Street South from Dufferin Avenue to Crescent Road will be designated 24-hour, no-parking zones.

One of the concerned citizens who came to the May 26 meeting was Keith Hutchinson, who lives at the corner of Tupper and Crescent. He told council he receives dinners daily from Meals on Wheels, and the no parking zone would mean the drivers would have nowhere to park around his home.

The transportation committee changed the original amendment, to give an extra 10 metres of parking on the east side of the south end of Tupper Street to make sure essential services had access to Hutchinson’s home.

“We were particularly cognizant of the needs of Mr. Hutchinson, who requires services to be provided to him,” said Wagner. “The 10 metres is right adjacent to Mr. Hutchinson’s house, so hopefully that will resolve that particular problem.”