Heather Wright/The Independent

It will be 2027 before Lambton County takes a close look at truck traffic patterns on Oil Heritage Line.

Plympton-Wyoming council is asking for an origin-destination study of Oil Heritage Road – which includes Wyoming’s main street – as concerns mount about increased traffic due to the rehabilitation and expansion of a dump near Dresden.

The town is one of the half dozen small communities in Lambton and Middlesex counties which will see garbage trucks rumbling through town as they head to York1’s Dresden site.

The Mississauga company purchased the land in 2022 and in 2024 announced they were planning a massive construction and soil recycling facility less than a kilometre from Dresden. At first, the province promised a comprehensive Environmental Assessment, but then reneged on the promise after winning the 2025 election.

After months of waiting to see what would come next, residents around the landfill received a letter from the company early in Aug., saying it now proposes accepting a total of 4,000 tonnes per day.

A traffic study prepared by York1’s consultants show about 20 trucks per day coming from Sarnia will go down Oil Heritage Road, through six Lambton communities including through the heart of Wyoming.

That worries Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Gary Atkinson. He says a recent county study shows about six per cent of the traffic in Wyoming’s downtown is already transports.

“We have all become aware of the proposed routing of additional heavy truck traffic that is scheduled to pass through several of our municipalities within the county, including Plympton-Wyoming, on their way to the York One dump in Dresden,” he told county councillors Sept. 2 adding it “adds to the concerns of my council, our residents, and our neighbouring municipalities.”

Atkinson asked for the study start this year. But Jason Cole, general manager of infrastructure and development says the study will cost up to $75,000 to complete and the public works budget is already in the red by about $600,000.

Warden Kevin Marriott added with the municipal election underway, county council could not authorize that big of a project.

Council agreed to bring the study to the table again once the new council is elected with the intention of getting it done in 2027.

Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Al Broad is backing the project.

“There’s numerous other municipalities which are going to have this truck traffic going to York1,” he told council.

“I hope that we’re not left out of the study because there will be more traffic going through not only Wyoming but coming down 80 Highway, turning on 21 heading down to York1,” Broad added.