Bridge closures hitting potato exports

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The criteria for closing the Confederation Bridge to truck traffic need to be reconsidered, P.E.I. Transportation Minister Ron MacKinley said Wednesday.

About 50 times a year strong winds shut the Confederation Bridge to high-sided vehicles.

That closures include transport trucks, and potato farmers say that means they can't get their goods to market with the result that buyers go elsewhere.

"I'd like to see the potato board and [MP] Gail Shea from the federal department, somebody from the bridge and people from my department, sit down. I think we should bring them all together," MacKinley said.

Rather than a blanket closure based on height, MacKinley suggested moving to a system where trucks cleared as fully loaded would be allowed to cross.

"One of the things that came up is maybe our scales up there could put a certification in on the weights of these trucks," he said.
$2 million impact

Most P.E.I. potatoes are exported across the Confederation Bridge to fresh markets in the Maritimes and the eastern U.S.

Alvin Keenan, who grows about 400 hectares of potatoes every year, recently got a resolution passed by the P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture asking the province to study the overall impact of bridge closures.

"We're affected every time it closes," Keenan said.

"We had 17 loads of potatoes that we were not able to market because transportation wasn't available."

The bridge was closed to trucks for a record 33 hours in December, and in the meantime stores simply went to other suppliers who could deliver on time, he said.

About 600 trucks were tied up during the December closures, he said, adding that each truckers lose about $200 an hour when they're standing still. That adds up to a $2 million hit to the economy, he said.

Keenan also wants the government to look at easing wind restrictions, so that fully loaded trucks might be able to cross.

Safety is the prime concern, he said, but if studies show that fully loaded trucks could cross, it might lessen some of the impact of bridge closures.

Officials with Strait Crossing Bridge Ltd.,, who operate the bridge, said they do not plan to change the policy on closing the bridge to high-sided vehicles.

On Wednesday, Michel Le Chasseur, general manager for Strait Crossing, said he was willing to sit down with government and industry to see if there are other solutions.

One possible option is adding wind deflectors to the bridge, he said.

"Are wind deflectors researched enough and who's going to pay for them? That's another story," said Le Chasseur. "But I'm sure that if there was a product out there and governments are interested too, I'm sure we can look at it."

Le Chasseur said with climate change, the closures for high-sided vehicles are lasting longer.
 
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