Tunnel or bridg Morvern floate

A bridge from Mull to Morvern would take islanders to the mainland via one of the country’s ‘most isolated’ peninsulas, while a tunnel linking the two would also be prohibitively expensive.

That is the view of Mull and Iona Ferry Committee, which represents views of local ferry users. The comments came in the wake of last week’s publication of the long-awaited Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR 2) which as well as a fixed link (bridge or tunnel) between Mull and the mainland also announced feasibility studies into fixed links across the Sounds of Harris and Barra.

The projects included in the review are the government’s favoured major upgrades to Scotland’s transport system over the next 20 years. But the committee added any kind of fixed link from Mull to Morvern - if it took the shortest route across the Sound of Mull as currently plied by the Lochaline-Fishnish ferry - would then see travellers faced with no significant town until Fort William after about another one-and-a-half hours’ drive on predominantly single-track roads.

Apart from a bridge, the committee said the alternative of a tunnel would not stack up financially either, since there would be very few balancing cost savings in reduced ferry operations.

The committee continued: ‘The alternative tunnel – to Oban – would need to be about eight miles long, which would make it the longest road tunnel in the UK by quite some margin – difficult