How make do and mend has left our roads in a real fix
ROAD maintenance has been a low-priority budget to be plundered for decades and we are now paying the price, with an increasing number of shutdowns caused by emergency repairs as potholes become craters and manhole covers collapse. The increasing volume of traffic on our roads has not been matched by a sensible road-building and repair programme. It’s been make do and mend for years from councils and the poor old motorist is expected to get on with it and not complain. We are seen as no more than a cash cow, but in reality commuters are the lifeblood of commerce.
saM JEnKins, Edinburgh. POTHOLES four miles deep – no doubt Humza Yousaf is looking into it.
ToM MaCKaY, Glasgow. HOPELESS placeman plonked into the post of Transport Minister and a First Minister who cannot drive. It’s no wonder Scotland’s motorists are in a jam.
annE FrEw, Paisley, renfrewshire. PRETTY much everything and everyone – even Nicola Sturgeon, who cannot even drive – moves by road at some stage. So why isn’t more being done about our roads? Listen to the traffic reports day in, day out, and the same old jams are making people’s lives a misery in the same old places. The demand for action is there but the sanctimonious green lobby are in charge. Yes, we would all love to use public transport but it is expensive, unreliable and, for very many of us, simply not an option because of the demands of our jobs. There are lots of plans to kick-start the economy. A sensible transport plan – and no, Humza Yousaf, sticking everyone on bicycles is not an option – backed with proper investment would transform this country.