Catastrophic accidents are just waiting to happen, warns Caithness pothole action group
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The organisers of a new Caithness campaign group have warned that "catastrophic accidents are just waiting to happen" because the county's roads are in such a poor state.
Local residents Iain Gregory and Helen Campbell have teamed up to form Caithness Roads Recovery, prompted by growing concern over the extent of potholes and crumbling carriageways across the far north.
Their group will highlight the condition of roads in Caithness and north-west Sutherland and exert pressure regionally and nationally for "substantial investment" to bring the network up to modern standards.
Funding from Holyrood will be essential, according to Mr Gregory, who insisted: "It is time for action to be taken at senior level to push for the allocation of major funds to completely overhaul the network."
Mr Gregory and Mrs Campbell are worried about the increasing dangers to road users as well as costly damage caused to vehicles – and yet, they argue, "there seems to be no funding plan" to resolve the situation.
Mr Gregory, who served for more than 30 years as a police officer, retiring as an area commander, said: "There is no doubt that many people in our area are becoming very tired indeed of the ever-worsening state of our roads.
"We have actually gone past the point where the risk is 'only' confined to the likelihood of vehicle damage, and have now reached a situation where road safety is being adversely affected.
"A pothole can cause damage to a vehicle – which in itself is unacceptable – but the roads are now in such a state that catastrophic accidents are just waiting to happen."
Mrs Campbell said: “Our roads are a vital lifeline for us all, and their deteriorating state is seriously impacting that lifeline.
"The practice that has been used over the past two decades of quick, short-term repairs is no longer acceptable and our community cannot continue to function and thrive on such poor roads. There needs to be a long-term, robust plan that will provide a permanent solution.
"Many of us have sustained some sort of damage to our vehicles, and a recent article in the Caithness Courier, showing a young lady sitting in the pothole that had just caused major damage to her car, summarises the situation.
"We are fed up with the state of our roads and we now need to take action to get something done about it.”
Mrs Campbell pointed out that in recent years there has been a "substantial increase" in heavy traffic relating to wind farms and other renewable energy developments, along with forestry harvesting. There has also been growth in the number of tourists visiting the area.
"Our roads haven’t been properly maintained to cope with this amount of heavy traffic, and now the local residents are suffering from conditions that are simply unacceptable,” she said.
Mr Gregory said: “We are a warm and welcoming community, and in particular we are very open to new business and to sustainable tourism. However, with the expansion of renewable energy and forest harvesting, our roads have been hit very hard with many large and heavy vehicles, along with a substantial increase in all types of traffic, using an already substandard roads network.
"The impact of this is undeniable and I understand that a single very large vehicle has the same effect as about 1000 cars or vans in terms of wear and tear.
"I estimate that we are looking at a multimillion-pound project to bring the network in our area up to standard. If that is how much we require, then that is how much we must seek to obtain – think of it as an investment in all of our futures."
Mrs Campbell added: “It’s not just about the potholes. Many of our roads are crumbling at the edges, and large areas lie flooded with nowhere for the water to drain.
"They are in a dreadful state and sometimes it’s hard to see how we can come back from this – but there has to be a way.
"We are in a pandemic and I appreciate that funds, and efforts within government, have been focused on keeping us safe. But our roads also need to be kept safe and, as the pandemic starts to level out, we need Holyrood resources to focus on setting out a recovery plan for our ageing and increasingly unsafe roads, which will also support the economic revival and getting business moving again."
Caithness Roads Recovery has the strapline “from despair to repair". As well as pushing for investment for upgrading, it will campaign to enhance all aspects of road safety in the area.
Mr Gregory said: "It would seem to me that Highland Council cannot bring the roads up to standard on a comparatively small annual maintenance budget. The situation has reached the point where very substantial capital investment is needed to completely resurface extensive lengths of our roads.
"And, for this, funding from Holyrood is essential. It is time for action to be taken at senior level to push for the allocation of major funds to completely overhaul the network.
"We are aware that other parts of Scotland have their own road issues, but our task is to try and get something done locally. And I think we need to stress that this is not just a recent problem – the network was deteriorating for a very long time, and the change in the weather is highlighting the inadequate repairs that have been done over the past decade or two.
"We need to take action and highlight the issues to elected officials and the Scottish Government."
Caithness Roads Recovery hopes to compile as much information as possible from across Caithness and north-west Sutherland, to find out how road problems are affecting people's daily lives, their wallets, their safety and their wellbeing.
A Facebook page has been created at https://www.facebook.com/caithness.roads and the team can be emailed at caithnessroadsrecovery@yahoo.com
The team recognises that many people have taken photos of the various road issues they have experienced. They stress that they are not encouraging this practice and want to ensure safety for all road users.
