Earlier in the week the Gurn had heard rumours from one of our regular unreliable sources close to River CC that work would soon be starting on the decking. All was confirmed when Liz tweeted today.
And on facebook Liz gives all the credit to River Community Council for forcing the Highland Council Administration into action. You can see from the pictures below that there has been serious decay in both the upper and lower decking. Decay that didn't come overnight. Back in October we published pictures sent in by one of our regular readers who was concerned about the state of the decking, perhaps if repairs had been made back then some money might have saved to the public purse as another winter's decay would have been avoided.
19 comments:
David Cameron recently mooted the idea that some roads could be run by private companies, would anyone be interested in taking over this bridge?
And maybe some residents in the west end might want to buy a certain road, I would suggest an asking price of around £3M, that would pay for the not so new community centre
Maybe they could spray it to prevent the rot.
The council would probably be advised to paint the metal parts of the bridge fluorescent orange whilst they're carrying out repairs, otherwise a certain person will probably be claiming it's a hazard to wildlife
I won't name names, but one prospective Nairn councillor stated that he would 'see to it' that the Bailey Bridge would be rebuilt if he was elected in May.
I'm in the fortunate position of being old enough to take all politicians promises with a very large bucket of salt!
The Jacobite
Bailey Bridge to remain closed to road traffic. The supper structure will not sport road traffic that was why it was closed in the first place and that's from the man who knows. But then again he is not looking to be re-elected
IT'S LOOKING LIKE YOU WILL LET THE MAN WITH THE BIG HAMMER LOOSE ON THE BRIDGE IF YOU WANT A NEW ONE.
THE REBEL
Let's all vote for the man who says he will reinstate the Bailey Bridge to its former state. Only bright idea I've heard on this election trail. It's always annoyed me that we gave in so easily to its closure, the only people who wanted it closed are those who live in its vicinity.
It doesn't matter what colour they paint the railings of the road bridge. Anything is preferable to rust coloured.
To Anonymous @ 11.26pm, wasn't there a small matter of an engineer's report having more of an influence on the closure? Some of the people who live nearby were quite happy with the closure but they were not responsible for the decision.
Aye, what a nuisance locals can be, some not wanting the road over the bridge reopened
The main benefactors from a fully repaired bridge would be Parkdean, perhaps they's like to pay for it?
And the only ones who want it open to traffic are the selfish ones who don't have to put up with the noise of traffic passing there door. And what is the advantage of it being open.?? tragic it is bad enough trying to come up Harbor street and to get out on to the A96 at the moment.
Leave the Bailey Bridge shut to cars and keep that area safe for locals and holidaymakers. It's about time a few people got out of their cars and did some more walking.
It's funny how people think...it's not ok for the west end to object to extra traffic but Fishertown folk can object to traffic which was always there anyway! I live out of town and always thought that no traffic on the bridge was just what Park Dean always wanted, gave them a sort of captive clientelle and stopped holiday makers shopping on harbour street.
Having no traffic on the bridge is more likely to lure the 20,000 or so per year holiday makers that come to the Lochloy caran park every year to go over the bridge and head along to the links and/or up Harbour Street into the town. It's a calm, safe area and makes the whole of the Harbour area part of the holiday zone.
@ won't get fooled again.
If you think you can attribute a statement to one of the so far seven declared candidates then please could you e-mail the Gurn with your source information please.
@ won't get fooled again
Interesting but not much use from anon sources.
Keep the bridge closed to traffic and put some traffic calming measures on Harbour Street too. Some young (and not-so-young) drivers (not all boys either) really hair up the road and there are folk with families pottering about unaware that it's the local drag strip.
Amazed there's not been a serious accident yet. It's just a thoughtless few but it only takes that one nut holding the steering wheel to cause catastrophe.
Maybe one of the candidates would like to take up that cause...
I must admit the galvanization on the Bailey bridge is impressive - there's not a great deal of corrosion considering how long ago the bridge was put in place and the salt-laden atmosphere in which it has been since then.
Once a new deck is in place it should last another fifty years or so in my estimation. The bridge at Broom of Moy is a bit heftier and is generally closed to vehicles but I imagine can be opened when required.
Good point anon, I believe there have been calls in the not so distant past for calming measures on Harbour Street.
Any candidates reading the Gurn today?
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