B.C.’s Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure says if a ban on non-local semis is brought in on Highway 5A, it, it would be a “substantial” policy shift.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Fleming was asked about a recently released study that was commissioned by the Stump Lake Ranch that identified numerous issues with have trucks on that stretch of highway between Kamloops and Merritt.

“Nowhere else in the province do we have specific highways and roadways that are part of the provincial network prohibited in that manner but they’ve presented some evidence of risk that’s happening there,” he said. “We’d have to look at the benefits and we’d have to talk to road users. There would be some work to do before we made a decision like that.”

“It is not entirely a new issue but they presented some data for the Ministry to look at so there’s no real update yet except to say that we acknowledge that there are some people on that corridor who would like to prohibit large commercial vehicles from its use as an alternate route.”

In March, the Ministry of Transportation told the TNRD that banning commercial trucks on Highway 5A would not make the route any safer. The BC Trucking Association is also “unequivocally” against such a ban.

“Highway 5A between Kamloops and Merritt remains a safe highway for both commercial and passenger traffic and there are no plans to ban commercial trucks from travelling this highway,” the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure told NL News in a statement last Friday, Oct. 1.

“Commercial vehicles use Highway 5A as an alternate route for a number of reasons, including local deliveries, forestry and agriculture purposes.”

“After a petition in early 2013, the ministry announced that trucks would not be banned from this route and provided results of a safety review that supported the continued use by commercial traffic,” the statement added.

Harvey McLeod, the Chief of the Upper Nicola Indian Band, said he is concerned about the safety of residents living along that stretch of highway.

“The concerns that are brought up in the report and by other citizens that live along Highway 5A are not news to us,” he said last month. “I am so afraid that we will not listen until one of us have paid the price, the ultimate price, of living along that highway.”

This past April, the TNRD board voted 21-5 in favour of writing a letter of support to Stump Lake Ranch as it pushed for this ban on semi trucks on Highway 5A.

Following his meeting with representatives of the Stump Lake Ranch, Fleming says ministry staff plan to meet with residents who hope to see the ban brought in in the coming weeks

“We’ve certainly put a lot of work and money into that stretch of highway in the last decade and there’s always more safety improvements too, so we’ve had some general discussions about that,” he said Friday.

This past summer, Fleming noted the Ministry carried out a traffic and safety review of Highway 5A, which is currently being reviewed by Ministry engineers.

“It is not completed yet and we’re going to analyze it and then use it as a point of discussion,” Fleming said. “I’m not sure [on a timeline when it will made public], I think it is quite soon, but I don’t have an exact timeline.”