Cutting corners at Watten – village pavements destroyed by careless HGV drivers
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Heavy vehicles are destroying pavements in Watten but there are “no easy answers” to the problem according to a local roads campaigner.
A huge increase in heavy vehicles has taken place over the last few months travelling along the Mybster road and turning onto the A882 towards Wick from Banks Road at the Watten crossroads. However, though most of the HGVs negotiate the turn correctly there are a fair number driving along the pavements on Banks Road and kerbstones at the crossroads now lie broken in pieces.
The matter was pointed out to Highland Council this week and its spokesperson said: “We are aware of this issue and are following up with the relevant parties.” They added that the area roads manager will send in a report on the matter.
A local farmer said that many of the vehicles are coming from a nearby quarry and carrying aggregate to build roads at wind farms.
The number of vehicles has increased dramatically recently and along with the quarrying lorries are longer HGVs carrying timber loads. When faced with oncoming vehicles, some are forced to mount the pavements to avoid collisions and serious damage is now evident. Pedestrians on Banks Road say they have had to stand aside as lorries drive over the kerb.
The damaged corner at the crossroads is adjacent to a blocked drain and a BT access cover for broadband in the village. It is unknown if these have been impacted by the movement of vehicles across them.
Speaking for Caithness Roads Recovery, co-founder Iain Gregory said: "One of the issues which we face, as rural Caithness becomes the site for more and more major construction works, is that the existing roads infrastructure is simply not designed to carry the ever-larger and heavier vehicles required to transport goods and equipment to and from the various locations.
"Many of the junctions are just too narrow for an HGV to negotiate without the driver being forced to take a very wide angle in order to complete the turn – this is not the fault of the driver, but is due to the nature and design of the road layout itself.
“There will be occasions where this can be corrected fairly easily, but unfortunately, there are no easy answers in some of the village and rural locations.”
Mr Gregory continued: "It is always worth remembering, when we see a large vehicle approaching a junction, that we need to give the driver the maximum room to manoeuvre."
Councillor for Wick and East Caithness, Janet McEwan said: “It is awful and is a safety issue for pedestrians.
“This is down to careless and thoughtless drivers. I will report and get back to you. It might be time for a safety barrier to be erected.”
