Two Companies Approved for Long Combination Vehicle Pilot Project

Permits allowing two trucking companies to run long combination vehicles (LCVs) in Nova Scotia may save trucking companies money and make the trucking industry more energy efficient.

The permits, approved for Armour Transportation Systems and Sunbury Transport Ltd., are part of a pilot project by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal to study the effects the vehicles will have on Nova Scotia highways.

"Other jurisdictions allow LCVs on a limited basis and we don't want to inhibit the ability of Nova Scotia to compete," said Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Minister Brooke Taylor. "At the same time, safety is our top priority and running a pilot project will help us assess first hand how these vehicles perform on Nova Scotia highways."

The approved permits allow Sunbury and Armour to run double, 53-foot semi-trailers hauled by a single tractor trailer on the province's twinned 100-series highways between Burnside and the New Brunswick border. Any carrier can apply for a permit at the department's website, www.gov.ns.ca/tran/trucking/vehiclewghtsdims.asp .

Proponents of the long combination vehicles say they will allow Nova Scotia to remain competitive and increase business to the Port of Halifax. Other benefits cited for them include reduced truck traffic, by using one engine to haul two trailers, and reductions in fuel and greenhouse-gas emissions.

In addition to being restricted to four-lane highways, in Nova Scotia the vehicles are required to keep their speed below 90 km/h and remain in the right-hand lane at all times. The permit also requires that drivers take a long combination vehicle training course, and have a minimum of five years and 150,000 kilometres of tractor-trailer driving experience.