Three years worth of road repairs all need done now
Arran has a three-year plan for road repairs, but they all need done now, according to members of Arran Community Council after they discussed the sorry state of the island’s roads at their meeting last week.
The discussion came ahead of the latest landslide, which led to the emergency closure of the U88 from the A841 to the North Sannox car park, although the order appeared to be being largely ignored when the site was visited by the Banner this week. It was due to re-open today (Friday).
The community council had submitted a long list of potholes and road complaints ahead of the meeting to island officer Brodie Pearcey. And Whiting Bay representative John Lamont was persistent about the poor state of the road between Ashdale Way and Kildonan, despite assurances that repairs had been carried out.
Vice chairman Richard McMaster said potholes could reappear hours after they were being repaired rather than days, adding: ‘The job is just not being done right. Maybe it is the material that is not up to the job.’
Mr Pearcey said that the roads were always at their worst at this time of year. He insisted that the council would always give their best efforts to keep the roads maintained but he said at this time of the year much of the manpower was diverted to weather related work designed to keep the roads open.
Other road items raised by the community council were:
A request for a timescale for repairs to bridge parapet at Birchburn which was damaged by NAC contractors carrying out work on pavements.
A request for a pothole to be filled in just after the rocking stone going into Sannox.
Various sections of road around Kildonan have been highlighted again for repair on safety issues, with regular drivers taking to the middle of the road to avoid the damage and facing oncoming traffic.
Flooding and subsequent road damage at the front of Brodick during the recent storms.
An indication of timing for the work to start on white lineing at various locations.
Mr Pearcey urged the public to lodge any road complaints on the NAC website so they were recorded.
Community council chairman Bill Calderwood said: ‘I think we need to send out a fairly strong message that we need a firm commitment of starting dates for the 2020/21 roads programme so we can start of address some of the issues.’