Road closures may last for months
New Kerse Road timetable could spell more misery
Network Rail has revised the road closure programme required for the work to replace Kerse Bridge.
And it could mean more-thanexpected traffic misery for motorists, communities and traders.
The rail infrastructure company had said the £6 million job of putting in a new bridge, to allow for electrification of the line, would require the 12-month closure of Kerse Road which currently carries more than 20,000 vehicles a day
However, a new draft timetable for the work, outlined to community council representatives last Wednesday, indicates that the road could be fully or partially closed for FIFTEEN MONTHS from late August.
A full road closure would be in place for more than 11 months.
The November, 2018, completion date is said to represent a “worst case scenario” and Network Rail and Stirling Council officials are trying to identify ways in which the project could be speeded up.
But the new timetable puts the company on a collision course with the council’s new SNP-Labour administration and more than 1000 Observer readers who signed our `Let’s Keep Stirling Moving’ petition.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the council’s chairman of environment and housing Jim Thomson said such a lengthy road closure – which he believes threatens the viability of many city centre businesses – was “not on”.
He is meeting with council officers on Tuesday to discuss the progress of negotiations with Network Rail over the project.
The revised road closure programme is:
•
full road closure to install temporary service bridge.
•
single road closure for work on south carriageway utilities. • full road closure for bridge demolition and reconstruction. •
single road closure to redivert services to south carriageway.
•
Full road closure to remove service bridge and complete project.
At the meeting with community councils, council officials Brian Roberts, infrastructure manager, and Jim McGregor said they had been working with Network Rail to “improve on these timescales”.
It was hoped to install the service bridge over a weekend and they were looking at the possibility of shortening the project’s timespan by extending working hours and shortening the time taken to divert utilities and cabling.
The officials emphasised that the programme was in draft form and still to be agreed.
Isabella Gorska, who attended the meeting on behalf of Riverside Community Council, said everyone was in agreement that the work could not take as long as Network Rail were suggesting.
“Utility companies should be able to get together and complete the work they have to do in a much shorter time, and it should be a shorter period because the implication for businesses, particularly small businesses, (of such a lengthy closure) would be devastating,” she added.
Councillor Jim Thomson echoed her concerns, adding: “Kerse Road is a main artery in and out of Stirling city centre. It supports businesses and a closure of this length would have a serious impact on our economy.
“Without a feasible longterm contingency plan that would accommodate an estimated 20,000 cars a day, a year-long closure would threaten current jobs and future business opportunities for Stirling city. At a time when we are looking to grow our local economy through an aspirational City Region Deal, this is an unacceptable position to be in.”
The Stirling Observer launched our Keep Stirling Moving petition in March demanding that for the good of the city centre and to avoid months of traffic chaos, Network Rail should work with the council to significantly reduce the timescale for the removal and replacement of the bridge.
Network Rail’s planning application to remove Stirling Council-owned Kerse Bridge has still to be decided. Councillors decided in April, at their last meeting before the local government elections on May 4, to defer a decision because of a “lack of information” about the design of the new bridge and traffic mitigation measures.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “We are currently finalising our proposals for the Kerse Road project and will share them with the council shortly.”
Kerse Road is a main artery...a closure of this length would have a serious impact on our economy