Potty white lines cross A83 pothole
PEOPLE have real road rage at the ‘genuinely dangerous’ A83 from Campbeltown to Tarbet.
Large areas of car- riageway are littered with potholes which are often impossible to avoid and if entered at even moderate speeds in the dark may break springs and shred tyres.
A recently announced resurfacing scheme, priced at £0.6 million, will attempt to provide a smooth surface from Inveraray to Whitehouse but for 30 miles south it is just temporary patching.
To compound the misery on Tuesday afternoon, a white-lining truck was spotted by a Courier reader in Muasdale. As Alison Clements watched, it even painted across a deep pothole on the road’s crown.
Commenting on the A83 Facebook page, Sandy McKinven wrote: ‘Absolute joke! Just seen them painting lines over about 20m of potholes at the end of the windfarm road on Patchan straight, actually unbelievable.’
A spokesperson for BEAR Scotland said: ‘We contacted our contractor for a full explanation.
‘We had instructed our contractor to carry out 600m of white lining on the A83 through Campbeltown between Dalaruan Street and Aqualibrium Avenue.
‘As the work did not require use of all of the material that had been prepared, the contractor located a section of road in need of refreshment and used the remainder of the material here.
‘The material needs to be fully used up in the machine as it will solidify if left.
‘The additional lining the contractor carried out in Muasdale was not instructed by BEAR and was carried out entirely at the contractor’s own cost. There is no additional cost to the public purse.
‘A temporary repair is also set to be completed to the pothole in Muasdale.’
Earlier in the week, a the Courier reporter was on a mission to photograph A83 potholes. Near Whitehouse, a BEAR Scotland pick-up pulled up and stopped. One of three crew, all employees of the company, said: ‘Are you taking some photos of the state of the road?
‘Well, if you had come tomorrow, your story would be ruined because we have just come to fix the potholes ... temporarily.’