Cawdor and West Nairnshire Community Council have organised an emergency meeting to discuss the threat that Highland Council's proposed 18 tonne weight restriction on the White Bridge will pose to the rural community. Details in the poster below
The B9090 route from Gollanfield to Auldearn via Cawdor has long been the unofficial Nairn bypass route for many large vehicles. Obviously there will be a serious impact on Nairn too as vehicles go back to the A96 or seek to access the trunk road via Nairn instead of the White Bridge.
I do not see the point in this, I wonder what Cawdor would prefer, a bridge that cars can use and bring in business, or a collapsed/closed bridge that no one could use that causes daily chaos.
ReplyDeleteThe Council must have made the decision based on some fact they are aware of that may cause the bridge to fail soon. Therefore it must be the correct one.
If anyone believes that the Council or Transport Scotland is going to build a new bridge just for Cawdor with the impending bypass costs coming up, they are going to be dissapointed.
I do still blame the Council though, for far too long they have buried their heads in the sand over the Nairn traffic issues, not only congestion but the "unofficial bypass" of commuter traffic, and coach / logging traffic that do not want the hassle of getting through Nairn - speeding through the local villages along this route and tearing up the tarmac.
Simple proactive action years ago would not have causes this/these issues arising now.
@Anonymous of 12.48 pm ...
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with your comment that ".... Simple proactive action years ago would not have caused this/these issues arising now.". The bridge should have been reinforced, or an alternative installed, long before now.
Whether it's traffic ratruns, in-town congestion, bridge capacity, drainage and sewage, harbour dredging, and a host of other basic components of public services and infrastructure, the Highland Council seems incapable of thinking ahead, taking precautions or preventative action to avoid problems, and planning or improving infrastructure to meet anticipated demand.
Across the board, the official approach seems to be, "We'll wait until the load gets intolerable and things start to collapse/overflow/seize up..... and then we will do whatever patching-up we can with whatever money we can find."
Then, too often, the remedial action is worse than the original problem. Too much traffic? We'll put in chicanes and traffic-lights. Too many heavy trucks on the bridges? We'll impose a limit and make them detour. Too much sewage.... oh who cares, it can go into the river, and we'll still give planning permission for lots more houses.