Double-length trucks earn double takes in Cambridge

March 31st, 2010 by

5632 statler Double length trucks earn double takes in Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE — Barry Waller knows the looks of bewilderment his super-sized truck generates.

The 20-year truck driving veteran admits he, too, was rattled the first time he saw the “long combination vehicle” he was expected to drive to and from the Frito-Lay snack food factory on Bishop Street in Cambridge.

“It’s a little scary when you first see it,” the Kitchener resident said of the double-trailer truck he’s driven weeknights since March 1.

“You still see some drivers, their mouths drop open. You see them turn to someone else in the car saying ‘did you see that?’ ”

All in, we’re talking 36 metres from his front bumper to the orange sign hanging on the back doors. It’s to warn lead-footed motorists this isn’t the usual truck they’re sizing up to pass.

Frito-Lay is the first company in Waterloo Region to participate in a provincial test of the double-trailer rigs. They’re common on highways in western Canada and half of the U.S.

Waller makes two trips weeknights. One to and from a warehouse in Scarborough. Then another to Brampton. Each trip moves about 80,000 snack-size bags of potato or corn chips.

Waller was trained last fall by drivers from western Canada. His final exam was a 1,000 km trip to Quebec, with an instructor in the seat beside him.

Frito-Lay wants to use the combo trucks because they’re 70 per cent more fuel efficient than single trailer trucks, said Terry Naugler, traffic manager at the Cambridge plant. They also reduce the need to hire contract drivers, since company drivers can move more product at a time.

While Waller is driving a sparkling new rig, he faces onerous safety rules. A maximum speed of 90 kmph. No driving on holiday weekends. No travel in the Toronto area at rush hours. No dangerous goods. No livestock. No driving in December, January or February. No driving in poor weather like thunderstorms or fog.

Nor may Waller deviate from his route: Bishop Street across Hespeler Road, to Can-Amera Parkway to Townline Road to Highway 401. If there’s a traffic tie-up, he must pull to the side of the highway and wait until the way is clear.

He only makes runs at night because of Toronto time restrictions. Technically, he can leave Cambridge any time of the day, but he can only return in the evening or overnight: there’s a tight right turn from Can-Amera to Bishop that he’s only allowed to take in off-hours.

Then there’s the two-lane roundabout at Townline and Can-Amera.

“It was a bit scary the first time I thought about it,” Waller said.

So long as motorists give him space, he said there’s no problem running a combo-truck through a roundabout—or any other intersection. The dolly linking the trailers keeps them in line like they’re on train tracks; they don’t swing wide like the old-style pup trailers motorists are used to.

Like when driving a single tractor trailer, Waller marks his space by straddling lanes to stop motorists from cheating alongside him as he sets up for a turn or roundabout.

“I make sure they can’t,” he said. “I’ll block them or just park and wait.”

This week, Cambridge-based Challenger Motor Freight plans to start trying the extra-long trucks, too. They’ll be running between a Mississauga terminal and Quebec, and in western Canada, as soon as this week.

Challenger is in the process of getting a long-combination vehicle route approved to and from its big Maple Grove Road truck yard this summer, said Enno Jakobson, executive vice-president.

On the Prairies, along with doubles its common to see three short trailers behind one tractor unit on long-haul routes, he said. Those “Rocky Mountain Triples” are lightweights compared to what’s allowed in Australia: three full-size trailers coupled into “road trains” on Outback highways.

The first round of provincial approvals includes 50 trucking firms, with two permits per company. More companies are itching to sign on since the Transportation Ministry started the pilot program last summer, said Doug Switzer, spokesperson for the Ontario Trucking Association.

“To date there’s been 1.8 million miles run without a single accident or ticket or problem. It couldn’t be better.”

Double-length trucks earn double takes in Cambridge