Transportation of Dangerous Goods Policy and Evaluation Framework

The City of Calgary initiated a study to develop 2 products: • A policy outlining guidelines and principles for the selection of dangerous goods routes, and • An evaluation tool to be used in assessing dangerous goods routes A stakeholder group was formed for the study and included representation from: • The City of Calgary: • The Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) • Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation (AIT) • The Centre for Transportation and Engineering Planning (C-TEP) • The University of Calgary (Geography and Civil Departments) A literature review was undertaken that included investigation of the practices of other jurisdictions and included; Ottawa, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Edmonton. The salient point from this investigation was that there was no quantitative or explicit/repeatable procedure in place to conduct a review of dangerous goods routes. Nor was there policy in place to guide City Administration on how dangerous goods routes are to be reviewed and evaluated. Most jurisdictions approach dangerous goods route selection based on the expertise of City Administration and/or industry experts. Based in part upon the literature review and the practices of the surveyed jurisdictions, the stakeholder group developed a list of evaluation criteria that considered: risk management, social implications, environmental impact, and economic considerations in determining whether routes should be designated as dangerous goods routes. After finalizing the evaluation matrix a policy was drafted to identify the process for evaluating dangerous goods routes and included such items as how the matrix was to be used, who was to be involved, how often were reviews to be undertaken and how it was to be included in planning for new routes/communities. The documentation was finalized and approved by City of Calgary Council in January 2006. The City is now evaluating all existing and future dangerous goods routes to ensure that all of the appropriate routes have been identified. The Bylaw will be subsequently updated in accordance with the policy and the evaluation criteria to account for any required changes.