There's a newly imposed weight restriction on a bridge in Mossey River Municipality that's causing some headaches for area farmers and producers.
The bridge on R172N, between R111 and R112, now has a 5 tonne weight maximum. The recent restriction is especially troubling for farmers because it disrupts their harvest.
Lorna DeVos, Local Farmer, said the new weight restriction on the bridge was very sudden, as it came after most of the RM's flood-related road repairs, which saw several heavy gravel trucks use the bridge.
"The new road restriction came quite suddenly. After all the events of the summer there was flooding and then there was subsequent road repairs, and all the gravel trucks were using [the bridge], and we assumed that there was nothing to worry about," said DeVos.
There are a lot more problems caused by the restriction for farmers than you might think. There aren't any similar length detours in place for heavy equipment, meaning farmers have to spend a lot more time and fuel to get from point A to B.
"The heavy loads and the large equipment now has to be rerouted elsewhere, and that takes a lot of extra time in a season when we don't have extra time...and it's also burning extra fuel, when fuel has never been more expensive, so that's deeply inconveniencing. And also whenever you restrict farm traffic, it always makes everyone have to go on alternate routes where there's much more likely to be two large pieces of equipment meeting on the road, which is difficult," said DeVos.
DeVos and other area farmers are hoping for more details from the Municipality as to why this weight restriction has been imposed.
"We've been underneath [the bridge] and looked ourselves, and there's no visible damage to it, so we'd like to know that we can use the bridge safely, until it is proven to be unsafe to use," said DeVos.
Mossey River Municipality has not commented on the new weight restriction.
