Trucks are barred from 14 Ormstown roads, with exceptions that include local delivery

Bylaw 7-2021, adopted June 7, 2021, bars trucks rated 4,500 kg or more and tool vehicles from 14 roads, and closes two bridges to vehicles over the provincial load limits. Fines run from $175 to $525 plus costs. The copy the town has posted leaves the dates of entry into force and of the transport ministry's approval blank.

Why this bylaw exists

The preamble relies on Québec's Highway Safety Code (Code de la sécurité routière, RLRQ, c. C-24.2). Article 626, paragraph 5, lets a municipality prohibit any road vehicle on roads it designates, provided signs show the prohibition. Article 291 lets it restrict or prohibit heavy vehicles on a road it maintains, and article 291.1 lets that prohibition be partly lifted, by signs, so a vehicle can reach a place accessible only through the prohibited zone. Council's stated aim is to protect the road network, the safety of citizens and the quiet of residential areas.

The preamble also cites a request from Québec's transport ministry (MTQ), which it says was preparing to bar these vehicles from turning left onto montée Bryson from route 138, so that they would travel only on the numbered routes (138-201), except for local delivery. Council says municipal rules and signs should be adapted, and other prohibitions set, to protect the municipal road network.

Notice of motion was given May 3, 2021, and the draft bylaw was tabled at that sitting. The bylaw was adopted June 7, 2021, and the public notice of adoption is dated June 9, 2021. The public notice of the draft is dated May 11, 2021 on the cover page and May 4, 2021 on the last page. The lines for the transport ministry's approval and for entry into force both read “...2021”. The cover page reads only “le 2021” for adoption, notice of adoption and entry into force, the enacting clause calls the text a “projet de Règlement 07-2021”, and the signature lines are blank. Article 7 says the bylaw takes effect, in accordance with the law, on the day it is published. It replaces and repeals Bylaw 7-2000, adopted by council on July 24, 2000 (art. 6).

Which vehicles are covered

• Truck (camion): a road vehicle, other than an emergency vehicle, with a gross vehicle weight rating (poids nominal brut) of 4,500 kg or more, built mainly to carry goods or equipment permanently attached to it. A combination of vehicles is a truck if at least one vehicle in it is rated 4,500 kg or more (art. 2).
• Tool vehicle (véhicule-outil): a road vehicle, other than one mounted on a truck chassis, built to do work, whose work station is part of the driver's station (art. 2).
• Trailers, semi-trailers and removable axles count as road vehicles (art. 2).

The 14 roads closed to trucks

Article 3.2 bars the vehicles covered by the bylaw from these roads, named here as the bylaw prints them:

• chemin Tullochgorum
• 4e Rang
• chemin Greig
• montée du Rocher
• 3e Rang
• chemin de la Rivière Châteauguay
• rang des Botreaux
• chemin Lower Concession
• chemin Upper Concession
• chemin Rivière aux Outardes
• montée Guérin
• chemin Island
• route 138A
• chemin Seigneurial

Article 3 says these roads are shown on the plan annexed to the bylaw. Annex 1, Cartographie des voies de circulation interdites, is a map with no-truck symbols placed along the roads. Its title block reads Plan de déneigement (snow-clearing plan), dated November 4, 2019, with revisions to November 18, 2019. Its legend does not include the no-truck symbol.

Two bridges closed to overweight vehicles

Article 3.1 bars every category of road vehicle whose axle load or total loaded mass exceeds the limits in Québec's load and dimension standards (Règlement sur les normes de charges et de dimensions applicables aux véhicules routiers et aux ensembles de véhicules routiers) from two bridges:

• the pont de la Rivière-aux-Outardes, on chemin de la Rivière-aux-Outardes, crossing the rivière au Outardes Est (as printed);
• the pont du Centenaire, on rue Bridge, crossing the Châteauguay River.

The only exception written into article 3.1 is a driver expressly authorized by a special traffic permit. The bylaw does not print the load limits themselves.

Article 4 lists exceptions to “l'article 3”, which contains article 3.1; article 3.1 itself names only the special traffic permit. The bylaw does not say whether the article 4 exceptions apply to the two bridges.

Who is exempt

Article 4 says article 3 does not apply to trucks and tool vehicles making a local delivery. The bylaw defines local delivery as a delivery made in a prohibited zone marked by a sign that allows truck and tool-vehicle drivers in to do one of these tasks (art. 2):

• pick up or deliver goods;
• provide a service;
• do work;
• have the vehicle repaired;
• drive the vehicle to its base (point d'attache), meaning the business's establishment: where the vehicle is stored, the office, warehouse, garage or company parking lot.

Article 4 also exempts:

• oversize vehicles (véhicules hors-normes) travelling under a special traffic permit that expressly allows access to the prohibited road;
• farm machinery, farm tractors and farm vehicles;
• tow trucks;
• emergency vehicles: police, ambulance and fire-service vehicles, and any other vehicle the SAAQ recognizes as one (art. 2).

Penalties

Anyone who contravenes article 3, 3.1 or 3.2 commits an offence and is liable to a fine of $175 to $525, plus costs, under articles 291 and 315.2 of the Highway Safety Code (art. 5). Article 5 sets a single range, with no distinction between individuals and companies or between a first and a repeat offence. The bylaw does not say who issues statements of offence.

What this means for residents

Trucks rated 4,500 kg or more and tool vehicles may not travel on the 14 roads listed in article 3.2, except for local delivery, which the bylaw defines by a sign that authorizes it, and the other exemptions in article 4 (art. 2, 3.2, 4). Any road vehicle over the provincial load limits may not cross the two bridges in article 3.1 without a special traffic permit. The fine is $175 to $525, plus costs (art. 5).