A great deal of work has been done on our roads over the last few months by Highland Council's Highways Department. Long stretches of what used to be appalling road have been resurfaced; a coating of rock chippings has been laid through most of Kilchoan and on the newly-surfaced roads outside the village; and they've added white lines.
We had some white lines before, but they were only at 'major' road junctions. Now they've put them long the edges of all the roads, taking great care to reduce the solid white line to dashes by field gates, so the crofters know they can cross them to access their fields.
The main purpose of this is probably to try to stop people driving off the road onto the soft shoulder when they meet a car coming in the opposite direction. This makes a mess of the grass verges and undermines the tarmac surface. It's a laudable idea, but it'll be interesting to see if it makes the slightest difference: there are drivers on the roads who have yet to discover reverse gear.
The white lines are very neat and purposeful but the consensus seems to be that they don't do much for the scenery, even though they do match the 'traditional' white of the local houses. But we shouldn't complain: it's just great to have had our roads upgraded - but please, please can they now be maintained at this standard.
I would rather have seen the white line money spent on the road surface to Portuairk. Jim
ReplyDeleteThey are a great help in getting you home from the pub on a dark night and avoiding a soggy end in a ditch.
ReplyDeleteThese are really odd in this situation. In parts of Denmark they removed all signage and markings and guess what - road safety improved!
ReplyDeleteThey certainly look good, funny how it's just before Nicola comes to visit the area. The roads are in a better state now than our nursing service.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see our road marked with white lines along the middle of the blind summits and blind bends that have been widened to double track over the last few years. We know our roads can be a daunting experience for visitors. Perhaps more road markings would make it clearer for the drivers who are not used to single track roads to see that it is actually possible and safer to drive on the left hand side of many parts of our improved roads.
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