Some drivers have started using the Canfor Hauling Road as a way to avoid traffic on Highway 40, a shortcut that’s causing concerns. Senior director of Canfor corporate affairs Corinne Stavness stresses the one-way, private road next to 108 Street is only meant for loaded logging trucks to access the mill in Grande Prairie.
“Public users have begun to use this private road – often in the wrong direction – as a quicker route through the city. However, this is creating a serious safety issue as this is a road intended for one-way industrial traffic only, and cannot safely accommodate two-way traffic.”
Stavness says Canfor’s Road Patrol and city Enforcement Services will be monitoring the road over the next week to let people know the risks of using it and issue tickets. The road is marked as private property, and Enforcement Services Manager Chris Manuel says the fine for trespassing will run a driver $287.
He also warns there are dangers that come with using the road, including logging trucks not expecting passenger vehicles coming towards them, and the quality of road itself.
“That road’s maintained to a different standard,” he explains. “It’s obviously an industry road; they have their own specifications and they, frankly, probably don’t want to take the liability on private passenger vehicles trying to shortcut it.”
Manuel adds that lease roads and private roads can sometimes be used to detour vehicles away from a crash, but that is only done in communication with the land owner.
