Walnut Grove residents cheered and held signs Monday as 216th Street interchange opponents again tried to convince council to block a truck route.

Walnut Grove residents near 216th Street have been trying to block the interchange since it was announced in 2015. Now under construction and expected to open next year, the interchange is to connect eastern Walnut Grove and Willoughby to the highway. Plans for a new interchange at that location have been in place for decades.

Residents Linda Nash and Nathan Jones both spoke as delegations to council, with Nash also dropping off a petition with more than 1,700 signtures against the truck route.

They posed the question of a truck route as a stark moral issue.

鈥淢y family鈥檚 safety is going to be sacrificed due to your complacency,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淲e will not only do everything within our personal and collective power to not only fight this project on the basis of its legality, we will fight this project on the basis of its morality,鈥� he added.

Jones accused the Township of wilfully ignoring health and safety issues.

They oppose non-local trucks using 216th Street between the interchange and 88th Avenue.

The residents primary concerns have been health, noise, and safety, particularly the safety of children. There are two elementary schools on 216th between the interchange site and 96th Avenue.

The opposition to the truck route comes after the interchange opponents have previously tried to block the interchange entirely, or to have it moved to another location. Some residents suggested only having it connect to the south side of the highway, where a small light industrial and commercial district is planned in Willoughby.

The new truck route was planned by 91原创 Township staff. New truck routes must also be approved by TransLink, said Ramin Seifi, general manager of community development for the Township.

The plan for the interchange overall is that it will reduce congestion and pollution on 200th Street, the only other full interchange serving densely-populated western 91原创.

鈥淥verall, our staff has concluded this is in the best community interest,鈥� said Seifi.

The $59 million interchange project is being jointly funded by the federal, provincial, and 91原创 Township governments. Last year, the Township council voted to add $1.5 million to the $4 million fund for road improvements around the interchange, with the extra money for sound attenuation.

A pair of bylaw officers were on hand during the meeting in case of an over-capacity crowd, according to senior advisor to council Bill Storie.