Fourteenth Street will no longer be a truck route between Cumberland Road and Willemar Avenue.

Courtenay council voted last week to remove the truck route designation from that section of roadway.

This has been a historic truck route passing through a residential area, and nearby residents have raised concerns over truck traffic on 14th Street in the past.

This short section of 14th Street is a wide area of pavement and has historically been a truck route connecting the Lake Trail Road area and Willemar Avenue to Cumberland Road, avoiding the previously skewed intersection at Willemar Avenue and Cumberland Road, deputy municipal engineer Alan Hampshire and Kevin Lagan, the city's director of operational services, explained in their report to council.

Since the construction of the roundabout at Willemar Avenue and Cumberland Road, the intersection has been improved to allow trucks up to WB15 design size to use the roundabout, they explained.

When the roundabout was constructed, 14th Street was maintained as a truck route to provide trucks longer than a WB15 an alternate route. Trucks also have the option of using Piercy Avenue and 10th Street — also a residential area — to connect to Lake Trail Road.

"If 14th Street is closed to trucks, it will have minimal impact on truck travel times," noted Hampshire and Lagan. "However, it will limit larger trucks to only one nearby route to connect to Lake Trail Road."

Fourteenth Street has been closed to truck traffic (except local access) on a three-month trial basis since October.

"To date, we have not received any complaints regarding the closure to truck traffic," wrote Hampshire and Lagan.

Coun. Larry Jangula was happy to see council move ahead on this.

"We've certainly heard a lot from this neighbourhood, and they are concerned about it," he said. "I'm glad we're looking at this."

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