Roads chiefs made to face music
TWO senior trunk roads bosses were left in no doubt about the strength of feeling in the Spean Bridge area when it comes to the state of local roads after a community council meeting.
David Devine, north-west roads manager for Transport Scotland, and Tommy Deans, network manager for BEAR Scotland, had been invited to attend last week’s Spean Bridge, Roy Bridge and Achnacarry Community Council meeting.
The two officials were politely, but firmly, told how road surfaces in the area around Spean Bridge, including Roy Bridge, were in an unacceptable state and breaking up, with new potholes emerging on an almost daily basis.
‘Many of our roads are in an appalling state. Some were just resurfaced four years ago and are already breaking up and what we want to know is why,’ said council chairman John Fotheringham.
‘Is it a problem with the Tarmac used, or the weight of vehicles or the weight of heavy vehicles transporting turbine parts?
‘What is it?
‘We were told by electricity firm SSE recently that four million tons of rock will have to be removed if a new hydro scheme proposed for Coire Glas near here got the goahead and, while it was looking at using the canal to transport some of that, the roads network is still the prime candidate for transporting much of it.
‘But our roads are not fit for the usage they get at the present time, never mind all that as well.’
Mr Deans said the past four to six weeks of harsh winter weather had seen much of the north-west roads network breaking up. ‘Roads in certain areas have crumbled, absolutely - there’s no point in beating about the bush over it,’ he said.
‘As a result, our survey teams are out reassessing all the work planned for the rest of this year and prioritising it.
‘We know there are endless potholes and if we get another really cold spell like we’ve had there will be more potholes.
‘As far as HGV vehicles, such as timber lorries, are concerned, the roads are also there for industry and we have to try to accommodate them.’
Mr Deans admitted that in the autumn he thought the roads network in Lochaber looked in pretty good shape, but not now. ‘I thought they were looking OK back then but the roads have really gone downhill in the past six weeks,’ he said.
The two officials heard other complaints, not just about potholes, but also gravel lying on roads and pavements and not being cleared away as a result of road surfaces breaking up, as well as problems caused by blocked drains and culverts - or in some cases the lack of drains and culverts.
Spean Lodge B&B operator Glen Wilson told Mr Devine and Mr Deans how water had cascaded along roads, pavements and the Telford Bridge in the middle of the village this winter, while the nearby woollen mill visitor attraction had been flooded three times in the past four years - the most recent forcing its closure on Christmas eve, one of the busiest trading times of the year.
Mr Wilson added: ‘If it had not been for me and my brother-in-law unblocking drains along that stretch of the trunk road, there would’ve been major problems – but it can’t be right that the situation needs two ordinary members of the public having to do that.’
Another local resident, Ross MacLennan, told the officials that every drain on the A82 up the hill from the village towards the commando memorial was blocked, resulting in water gushing down the hill in wet conditions and into the village.
‘It was like a river running down there on Christmas eve,’ he said.
The two officials were shown slides of potholes and broken road surfaces. ‘We were told when they last resurfaced the roads here that the work would last for 20 years and it has barely lasted for just three,’ said Mr Fotheringham.
Mr Devine said Transport Scotland was now trying to rejuggle its budget to focus on areas where there was the most need.
Quizzed over compensation claims for cars damaged as a result of potholes, Mr Deans made it clear that, if BEAR had been made aware of a specific pothole and a vehicle was subsequently damaged before said pothole was repaired, then the trunk roads operator would be liable for compensation.
‘If you hit a pothole send in a claim and we will look at our information and if we are at fault we will pay out,’ said Mr Deans.
‘We have to compare our records for locations, but if we know about a pothole and four hours later we haven’t fixed it, we are liable.
‘If someone thinks a certain pothole is an immediate hazard, phone us and we will endeavour to respond immediately.’
Mr Deans said the reason why stretches of trunk roads, such as new parts of the A9, fared better than some other roads is that when a new road is built from scratch all the latest in 20th century road building knowledge and experience comes into play.
‘But a lot of these other roads are just being added to when it comes to repairs and resurfacing - many Highland roads are roads which have developed over time with bits added to them.
‘We are never going to get it right all the time. This winter has caused more damage than last winter and we are always pushing to do as much repair work as we can.’
Mr Deans told the meeting that by the end of last week, BEAR was hoping to have the whole of its rescheduled programme for the remainder of this financial year finalised.