Background: Canada has 1.4 million kilometres of roads, measured on a two-lane equivalent basis (one kilometre of a four-lane highway is counted as two kilometres). Yet, 85 percent of this road system is local and includes urban streets, country roads, which are almost exclusively gravel, and bush roads. As such, there are 171,000 kilometres of highways on which the majority trucking activity is focused. Part of these are 25,196 kilometres of main intercity highways that constitute approximately 2% of the road network, but carry most of the truck traffic in Canada.
Truck traffic levels vary greatly from one road to another. For instance, on main highways on average about 15% of traffic is made up of trucks. This percentage is different from province to province, with the highest being 21% (New Brunswick) and the lowest 5% (Yukon). It also varies from one road to another. In terms of actual traffic counts, an average main highway kilometre in Canada carriers approximately 1,100 trucks daily in both directions.
Estimates suggest that trucks account for 25 to 27 billion vehicle-kilometres of travel each year. Likely about 10 billion occur on main highways. This implies that approximately 40 percent of all truck traffic moves on only two percent of Canada's road network (the main highways).
Congestion: In the Lower Mainland the economic cost of systemic congestion is approximately $1.5 billion annually, which will double by 2021. The trucking industry is especially affected by congestion because 70% of goods, by value, move by truck.
We have no choice but to use the road system. Investors, however, have a choice of where to locate manufacturing, production and retail facilities in Canada and the U.S. They will gravitate to jurisdictions that provide access to a transportation system that meets their requirements for receiving and shipping their goods.
Finally, our extremely congested roadways result in increased smog and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, residentional neighbourhoods have to bear the brunt of "rat running" because traffic is being forced off the major road network. There is also a positive relationship between increasing congestion and crash rates.
Who Should Pay: The issue of who should pay for the maintenance and upgrading of the road/highway network is on the minds of all levels of government during this period of fiscal constraint and new cost-sharing arrangements. Some have argued that trucks do not pay their fair share and/or that governments should employ full "cost accounting" methodologies for establishing user fees.
One way that the Canadian provinces have encouraged productivity in the movement of goods over the road is by allowing gross truck weights that are, in general, more liberal than in many U.S. States. However, because Canadian weights tend to be spread over more axles, axle weights of Canadian vehicles are about the same as in the U.S. There is no doubt that trucks, by virtue of their heavier axles, have greater impact on the infrastructure than cars. Yet, there is also no doubt that the major cause of road damage in Canada can be attributed to two factors. The first is Canada's more pronounced freeze thaw periods. The second is the neglect by all levels of government of road maintenance and upkeep in recent decades.
Consider these facts:
- In 1965, the Canadian provinces spent 20 cents on roads for every dollar spent.
- By 1993, the amount spent on roads declined to 3 cents of every dollar.
- Canada is the only major industrial state without a national highway policy.
A point in case is the Port Mann Bridge. In 1964, when the Port Mann Bridge was opened, the population of the Lower Mainland was 800,000. The population had increased to almost 1.3 million by the time the Alex Fraser Bridge was completed in 1986. Since then, the population in the Lower Mainland has swelled to about 2.3 million. The Port Mann Bridge is the single worst bottleneck with traffic having increased by 70% to 130,000 trips per day since the mid-80s. Between 6:00 am and 7:00 pm, the Port Mann Bridge is congested 90 percent of the time. In contrast, other local bridges are congested only 20 to 30 percent of the time.
Contrary to popular myth, the Port Mann Bridge is not just a funnel for traffic to drive into Vancouver. It is a vital link for commuters and other road users who need to travel between the Fraser Valley and communities north of the Fraser River. Public transit is simply not an option for most of these people due to the diversity of origins and destinations. Importantly Highway 1 is also the economic spine for the Lower Mainland. It connects many communities in the Lower Mainland as well as the Lower Mainland with the rest of BC and Canada and with the U.S.