Pothole misery continues with more than a dozen drivers reporting burst tyres in one day.
THE potholed roads of Argyll are damaging the vehicles using them – but at least there is hope for Strone Point as plans for repairs are revealed.
So bad is the A83 trunk road that on a single day last week WD Semples garage in Inveraray attended 14 separate vehicles with tyres damaged as a result of hitting potholes.
Garage foreman John Cameron told the Advertiser: ‘We cover a 20-mile radius around Inveraray doing work for the AA and RAC and last Tuesday we were called out to 14 cars on the A83 where the tyre walls had been ripped hitting holes in the road. We also had a couple of buckled alloy wheels. That was exceptional, but we’re guaranteed two or three call-outs for burst tyres every day.’
Trunk road management firm BEAR Scotland is to undertake urgent repairs and resurfacing after additional funds were allocated by Transport Scotland.
The firm blames ‘ac- celerated road surface deterioration caused by recent winter weather conditions, where the freeze and thaw cycle has weakened the carriageway’ for the crumbling A83. One of the worst stretches is between the Strone Point roadworks and Garron Bridge. Under a revised winter action plan, BEAR Scotland is to resurface the Strone Point section overnight on Sunday February 25 and Monday February 26.
But the A83 is not the only road in Argyll to have pothole problems.
The council-managed B8024 Kilberry road is treacherous in many places, as is the B8000 Kilfinan road on the other side of Loch Fyne. One Kilfinan man, travelling from Inveraray, is reported to have decided to use the Tarbert-Portavadie ferry to avoid using the worst stretches of the road.
Argyll and Bute Council’s policy lead for roads Roddy McCuish said: ‘Our teams are working hard to carry out necessary repairs as quickly as possible as part of our ongoing maintenance programme.’