A resident living off of Highway 579 is raising concerns after two recent incidents involving vehicles being struck or forced off the road by logging trucks.
Mark Tannas, who lives 18 kilometres west of Water Valley along the winding highway, told the Eagle of the incidents that occurred – Sept. 3 and Sept. 11 – just a few kilometres from his property.
“It isn’t wide enough for the general public to meeting this kind of traffic,” Tannas said in regards to the six-kilometre unpaved portion where the incidents took place.
Tannas, who manages provincial campgrounds in the Ghost area, said one of his employees was driving about five kilometres east of the Highway 40 intersection Sept. 3 when his vehicle met a logging truck, forcing him into the embankment before being sideswiped.
According to Tannas, the employee had passed another logging truck just prior to being struck and could hear the driver via radio informing another driver of the presence of the employee’s vehicle.
The employee then attempted to contact the drivers on the shared frequency but Tannas said they were unable to hear him despite the vehicle’s radio being in working condition.
Luckily, the employee was unhurt. Tannas said he estimates there is $10,000 worth of damage to the vehicle and is probably a write-off.
The Sept. 11 incident occurred about 2.5 kilometres east Highway 40, which Tannas personally encountered after turning a corner. He described seeing a van flipped on its side, sandwiched between the truck and the embankment.
“That’s the first question I asked when I saw a vehicle on it’s side and a log truck sitting over top of it: is everyone OK?”
He said both the driver of the logging truck and the driver of the van remained at the scene and appeared uninjured.
Tannas said although the majority of the highway is paved and graded, the biggest danger lies in narrow turns along the unpaved six-kilometre portion west of the Highway 40 junction where drivers cannot see oncoming logging trucks.
“I don’t care if they don’t build it to the same grade as the rest of the road,” Tannas said, “widen out the corners so you can actually see around them.”
Tannas maintains that that section has long been a concern for residents and for Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS), whose trucks use Highway 579 as a log haul from the Ghost area.
Ed Kulcsar, woodlands manager for SLS, confirmed the Sept. 11 incident.
“We’re aware that there was an incident; it was a non-collusion. Both vehicles were able to drive back to Water Valley to exchange their information.”
Kulcsar said there are large caution signs along the road warning drivers of logging trucks and said SLS’s drivers maintain speeds of 30 km per hour along the highway.
“We do have our own safety program in place for incident reporting, investigation and followups, so we did indication from our contractor that there was an incident that had occurred.”
He said he could only comment that the truck drivers in the Sept. 3 incident confirmed through radio contact that they were aware of the vehicle before it was struck.
Tannas said he isn’t pointing the finger at SLS.
“Is it Spray Lake (Sawmills’) fault? No, they’re just trying to make a living, hauling on the only road they’re approved on. It’s the government.”
Carrie Sancartier, spokesperson with Alberta Transportation said their department said they’re evaluating the road’s dimensions in light of the incidents.
“In the wake of a recent collision, Alberta Transportation is looking into traffic volumes and the width of the road to determine if changes should be made to the road use,” Sancartier said.
She said traffic volume to the unpaved road has decreased over the last five years. There are no immediate plans to widen the road, however, Sancartier added.
For Tannas, if the section of highway isn’t improved, it’s only a matter of time before something tragic happens.
“That’s been my dad’s complaint, my complaint, the community association of Water Valley’s, the MD of Bighorn’s: somebody’s going to get killed on this road.”
