Weight Allowances for Wide Base Single Tires Reconciliation Agreement (2018)

One of the first items for regulatory reconciliation across jurisdictions is a provision to align weight limits within jurisdictions for Wide Base Single (WBS) Tires and more traditional Dual Tires. Aligning allowable weights is intended to make the use of the WBS tires more practical for the transportation sector.

WBS tires are single wide tires that can be used in place of dual tires. The use of WBS tires in place of duals enables trucks to carry similar weights with less wear on tires while increasing fuel economy. This not only reduces costs for the trucking industry, it can also reduce its carbon.

WBS tires have been in use across different European countries for many years and have been available in North America since 2000. While WBS tires have been allowed by all provinces and territories for more than a decade, in most provinces and territories the weight limits for WBS tires were lower than the weights allowed for traditional dual tires.

Differences in the provincial and territorial regulated weight limits for WBS Tires were identified as a barrier for the trucking industry. To address this, the federal-provincial-territorial Memorandum-of-Understanding on Vehicles Weights and Dimensions was amended by the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety in January 2019 to allow the same weight limits for WBS tires (with widths of 445 mm or greater) as for axles fitted with conventional dual tires on a designated highway network across Canada. The reconciliation agreement reflects this reform.

Implementation of this item is essentially complete as all jurisdictions now have measures in place to allow WBS at weight limit parity with dual tires.

Once all participating jurisdictions have signed, the full text of the agreement will be published on the CFTA website.