The Postie's Post

IF YOU are a regular reader of my postie’s posts you will probably sigh when you realise that I am talking about roads again this month. But I do have an excuse and that is because the Highland Council aren’t really that good at managing them at times.

- Mark Gilbert

We don’t have many roads up here; there is normally only one route to and from anywhere, there are no rat runs available to be able to avoid trouble if necessary and to top the lot, most of the roads up here are only single track, so technically there is only half the amount of road to manage!

After living in built-up areas for most of my life, and being within minutes of reaching major road networks at my previous address in Huddersfield, I have seen the busiest eight lane motorways, the quietest rural country lanes and the biggest potholes you could imagine. Once you leave Inverness, the Highland roads are comparably in the best condition I have ever encountered: very few potholes, no sunken roadside drains, and rarely any utility companies digging up the roads willy-nilly — sometimes, as I have witnessed, digging them up just after another company has just filled them in.

So, the Highland Council should either be great at managing roadworks when they get them because they can focus on one project at a time, or not great because they aren’t experienced enough.

Regular readers will have read last month’s article on the debacle of managing the closure of the B871 Syre to Kinbrace road to facilitate the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge over Lonigill Burn. The road closure notice was only in The Northern Times three days before the six-week road closure started.