B-triple trucks will soon be making their way to the Coles Distribution Centre following what the council says is a successful trial.
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Two B-triples each afternoon from Monday to Friday will be allowed to travel to the DC in Lillkar Road at Run-O-Waters, a council spokesman says. The arrangement will apply during the COVID-19 period only, allowing the chain to cope with extra demand.
The vehicles will run from Eastern Creek to Goulburn.
"The B-Triples will be coming straight off the highway to the Coles DC, and will not be entering the city," a council spokesman said.
"Education has been undertaken with all drivers of the B-triples to ensure they understand the route, and do not enter Ducks Lane through the roundabout."
This did occur in June when a DC-bound truck missed the Lillkar Road turn-off to the facility and continued up Ducks Lane. When it tried to turn, it became stuck with broken air-hoses and blocked one lane. Ducks Lane is the main exit from Run-O-Waters.
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The council said a trial in July presented "no issues and the trucks were able to simply navigate corners and roundabouts en route to the DC.
" The council, Police Highway Patrol, Transport for NSW heavy vehicle haulage representatives, Linfox and Coles were all present for the trial," the spokesman said.
Residents were not consulted but he said this was not deemed necessary as the vehicles were not entering residential areas.
Coles would not incur extra road contributions as a result, the council confirmed.
The Post has also requested comment from Coles on levels of product demand and whether it has decided on a closure date for the facility.
The chain previously flagged this and construction of two automated DCs, one in NSW and another in Queensland.
However, the local facility has this year recruited staff to cope with supermarket product demand.
Meantime, Goulburn has been flagged as an interchange location for B-triples since 2007.
Proponents of several large business parks for Goulburn were keen to hop on board but their developments never took off.
In 2014, Hume MP Angus Taylor branded the debate over B-triples and their safety on the highway as a "red herring" and said carriers should make greater use of rail.
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His comments followed release of the state government's Long Term Transport Master Plan, which proposed a B-triple trial on the Hume in early 2014.
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