Dump trucks banned from using Cookstown roads
There could be less rumbling through Cookstown after council banned Essa Township’s dump-truck traffic.
Deputy Mayor Lynn Dollin put forward a motion June 20 to ban the construction vehicles from using County Road 89 as a way to get to Essa Township developments.
“I’ve emailed Essa Mayor Terry Dowdall, along with council so as not to surprise them,” Dollin said. “It has become a cumbersome problem, I’ve clocked them at about one dump truck every 15 seconds.”
The problem is that the heavy trucks using Church, Queen and King streets cause a safety concern for pedestrians and other traffic, and the town just spent about $2 million to upgrade the road, Dollin noted.
Ward 1 Coun. Doug Lougheed asked where the trucks should be rerouted.
“If they’re coming from Hwy. 400, I can see a logistical problem if they can’t be absolutely in the town of Innisfil,” Lougheed said.
Dollin suggested the trucks are already using the 5th Sideroad of Essa to get to the two dumping sites and added they could use County Road 21 or County Road 27.
Cookstown business owner Joseph Delgrosso said dump trucks aren’t the only problem.
Traffic overall has become worse , he said.
“It’s supposed to be 40 km/h. I don’t understand why the town’s holding back on making it safe,” he said. “That’s why people don’t come here no more. They don’t feel it’s safe.”
He said dump-truck traffic is more consistent in the morning, but a dump truck passes by his storefront almost every minute during the day.
“We need to put a sign up that Cookstown has zero tolerance for speeding,” he said. “Look at Bradford. You go through Bradford like that, they’ll throw you in jail.”
Delgrosso has had his Joseph’s Art Studio space for four years and said he’s never seen police radar patrol in front of his business, even after the town reduced the speed to 40 km/h last year.
“It’s only gotten worse. Sometimes, my windows shake when they go by here.”
