£1million to be spent on programme of roadworks
MORE than £1million of roadworks in the Helensburgh and Lomond area has been agreed by councillors.
As part of Argyll and Bute Council’s roads capital programme, £150,000 will be spent on remediation work on East Princes Street between Henry Bell and George Streets.
A section of Whistlefield Road in Garelochhead has been allocated £105,000, while £100,000 will be spent each on Muirlands at Cross Keys, and Shore Road.
In total, £1.1m will be spent on overlay, inlay and kerb and surface works across the administrative area. A total of £8m has been approved for across the council area.
The details were given in a report to the authority’s environment, development and infrastructure committee on Thursday, March 21.
Executive director
Kirsty Flanagan said: “This council has approximately £122m of backlog maintenance (based on figures produced by SCOTS) across the road network.
“This means that over £122m would need to be invested to bring the road network up to an ‘A1’ standard. Most councils are in a very similar position.
“During these challenging financial times, it is very unlikely we will benefit from the level of investment required to bring the road network up to an ‘A1’ condition.
“However, over the last decade there has been a carefully applied strategy of delivering revenue and capital funding collectively and delivering a series of works designed to minimise reactive work, carry out right first time repairs wherever possible and to deliver surfacing techniques and specifications which maximises the amount of repairs and resurfacing which is delivered.
“As with almost all council services there is insufficient funding available to treat all the sections of road that we would like to do, the focus being on treating sections where we can maximise the financial return and in so doing reduce the amount of reactive repairs carried out.
“However, the investment levels that the council has made over a number of years have made a positive impact on the council’s road condition. This has been detailed in the road condition index which is included in the annual status and options report.”
Ms Flanagan added: “The capital programme presented is based on carriageway condition late autumn/early winter. With the effect of winter this programme may need to be adjusted to ensure that any investment takes into consideration any winter deterioration.
“The programme for each of the administrative areas will be forwarded to area committee members and updates to area committees as the programme progresses. The programme will also be available on the council website with key scheme status and dates.”
The full list of Helensburgh and Lomond roads set to be treated in the course for the coming year are as follows.
Overlay: C69, Glen Douglas hairpin bends to A82 (£30,000); B832 Crosskeys to A82 via Muirlands (£100,000).
Inlay: Colquhoun Street from West Argyle Street to West King Street (£30,000); U262 Shore Road Helensburgh (£100,000);
B872 Whistlefield Road in Garelochhead (£105,000); Church Road in Rhu (£25,000); East King Street from Charlotte Street to Grant Street (£35,000); Ardencaple Quadrant (£80,000); Kirk Brae in Shandon (£30,000); East Princes Street from Henry Bell Street to George Street (£150,000); Victoria Road in Helensburgh (£60,000); U133 at Forestry Houses in Succoth (£50,000); Columba Street (£25,000).
Kerb and surface work: A814 at Whistlefield roundabout (£30,000).
Preparatory work and surface dressing is also scheduled for the A814 from Whistlefield to Finnart (£80,000) and on the same road south of Glen Douglas (£60,000).
In addition, kerbing and surface works on the roundabout at the junction of the A814 and A817, rescheduled from 2023-24, is also planned at a cost of £37,000.