Work on Wick town centre bollards to begin in May
Work is due to start in May to install rising bollards at each end of the pedestrian-priority section of Wick’s High Street.
Highland Council is writing to business owners and residents in the area to tell them about the work schedule and how the bollards will operate.
Oncoming vehicles seeking access will have to use a control pillar to call a control room in Inverness. When the control room is closed, the bollards “will lower on approach”.
The bollards are being planned to help overcome the problem of motorists using the pedestrian area illegally. Council leader Raymond told community representatives last month that the system would allow legitimate users to access the street while preventing others from using it as a “whizz-through thoroughfare”.
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “A set of two rising bollards will be installed at the entrance to the High Street pedestrianised zone, with another set at the exit to the zone – set back from the existing traffic signals.
“Oncoming vehicles will use the control pillar to call the operator in the Highland Council control room based in Inverness to request access. When the control room is closed, the bollards will lower on approach using the detector loops in the carriageway.
“The exit system will solely use the detector loops in the carriageway, lowering on approach of an oncoming vehicle.
“Access will be permitted in accordance with the existing restrictions for the pedestrian zone.
“The bollard installation works will take place in two phases: the first from May 5-14 and the second from May 19-28. The traffic management planned during these works will still allow access to the High Street area for deliveries and authorised vehicles.
“We are currently in the process of issuing letters to the business owners and residents in the pedestrianised zone to inform them of the upcoming works and how the bollards will operate moving forward.”
Councillor Bremner gave an update to members of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council at their February meeting.
Councillor Bremner, who represents the Wick and East Caithness ward, explained at the time: “The installation of bollards at the entrance and exit of the pedestrian precinct will restrict through traffic during the day to delivery and for vehicles needing legitimate access.
“The restriction of traffic was a key theme highlighted by members of the public to increase the safety of pedestrians, to support the necessary access required by disabled and less able precinct area users and to allow delivery access and reduce the area as a thoroughfare shortcut.”
Concerns have been raised over a number of years about drivers cutting through the pedestrian zone, despite a warning from a sheriff that it is “not a legal shortcut”.
Drivers are rarely prosecuted, but in 2021 a man was fined £65 at Wick Sheriff Court for failing to comply with the restriction.