Nairn Traffic issues – Lochloy Road/A96 junction – Sandown Farm Lane and Cawdor Road

Along with A96 and bypass issues which were discussed at last week’s joint Community Council meeting. the Chair (and new Nairn tourism personality) Rosemary Young asked if there was anything else that hadn’t been highlighted. 

Graham Vine asked about the promised 30.m.ph. limit on Sandown Farm Lane he said: “You have a single track road, buildings either side and it’s 60 m.p.h.” Graham was annoyed that nothing had been done yet.

The dangers at the Lochloy Road junction with the A96 and View Road were mentioned too. A local resident raised concerns that the both the traffic from View Road and Lochloy were coming onto the junction at the same time.

Brian Stewart replied: “That was one of 12 very specific points that we raised in writing with Transport Scotland. I’ll read out the two sentences that we got in the reply on that junction. ‘A96, Lochloy, View Road intersection. The current signal control system takes account of the present traffic flows, continually monitoring them, automatically varying the signal timings when necessary to provide the most efficient junction operation.’ ”

Brian then added his own interpretation: “So all is wonderful and don’t worry about a thing and we’re not going to do anything.”

Stephanie Whittaker mentioned that she had been up to the hospital recently and because the hospital car park was full people were parking all the way along the road past Queen’s Park. She added: “not only is it awful just now but when the building starts….  

Brian Stewart ironically added : “That’s Cawdor Road, that’s the one that’s got lots of capacity to cope with 500 more houses.”

In respect of the Cawdor Road situation Gurnites may wish to reflect on the editorial in last week’s Nairnshire. In referring to the Cawdor Road “choke point” under the Railway Station, Iain Bain states:

“More than a century and a half ago the railway station was built just beyond the periphery of Nairn and the Cawdor Road served a pleasant rurality. But in recent years the underpass created when the station was built has been a real problem. The nearby junction with Balblair Road has proved a problem for heavy vehicles serving the sawmill; there is a visibility problem; there have been drainage problems and when the hospital was rebuilt the difficulties posed by increased volumes of traffic were highlighted.”

And further into the editorial piece Iain adds: “Nothing in the Masterplan inspires confidence on this issue. The elephant in the room is the re-engineering of the cutting and the bridge that carries the station platforms and line. That is the solution to the problem and it costs.”