Corran Ferry Replacement

[OLD GIT]

point 1) -Burns- it would be cheaper /easier etc to build a bridge at just past Corpach. The money saved could well be used to improve the road down to Corran. (A861- ring any bells. ). The Mallaig(A830) has been improved, so any improvement to the othwer side of theloch would make travel times at all hours, a memory of times past.
point 2) Berk- please look at a map- Mallaig is past Corpach on the A830. Unless it's moved in the almost century after my Great Grandfather made it into a decent town, as one of( in it's time) largest fishing ports in the north of Scotland.
Fort William to Corran is further than Fort William to Corpach. I should know as I lived and worked there for a lot of years, and Mrs OG worked in Onich, in the years before we married, so I do know the distances and times . Besides that, as you say "Ardnamurchan is a fairly remote part of the world, " - but then so is some place on the SW coast, but no reason to deny them a decent road system.

[KeithW]

That was why I suggested a bridge at the rear of the old pulp mill , a good way toward loch Eil ( I'd say north, but I'd get some folks with a compass telling me I am wrong.) Dad used to live in a house where the locks at Banavie were behind his house,and I've seen first hand, and had him tell me of large vessels just fitting into the canal. The sea lock is just behind Corpach station, and Banavie is the start of the first set of lock, just past the station, rail bridge. Again , with the station just beside it, a place I saw regularly in my days commuting to school.

The locks at Banavie are on the Caledonian canal. Eventually it exits to the sea at Inverness but the largest vessel it can handle is
length: 150' (45.7 metres)
beam: 35' (10.6 metres)
height: 89' 8" (27.3 metres)
draught: 13' 6" (4.1 metres)

https://www.waterways.org.uk/waterways/ ... nian_canal

In 2017 I stayed in bungalow that backed on to the flight of locks (Neptunes Staircase) leading towards Gairlochy and Loch Lochy. The cruise ships coming into Fort William come via Loch Linhe through the Corran Narrows

[Berk]

It’s hard enough to justify new bridges and tunnels being built in England, so why people think... oh I know, the English taxpayers Barnett formula’ll pay for it.

It’s closer to Norway don’t you know...

All the same, if you improve the A861, it’s still an alternative route to Mallaig. The main roads can get very busy (and slow) indeed with coaches and caravans, as I can also tell you from my visits.

[OLD GIT]

Berk- I know- I lived and worked in the area for a lot of years, with one of the few A single track roads existing into long after many C roads in the South were made wide. The south has had the investment, so why not do it up north. Your sort of thinking is why the odd fish in Edinburgh may well split the UK. Perhaps you might get back to discussing where to put the bridge, or saolve the problem of how folks in a remote ( just as remote as a part of Kent) can get to decent shops and services in a short time. I've got an idea.
Perhaps if you'd lived and worked in this area for a spell, you'd just realise the problem. You've never seen the tailbacks at Corran. Try it in high summer with a lot of tourists and see how much it adds to the work time.
Keith- I've lived and worked in the area for a long time. My dad's house used to overlook the canal end of Neptunes staircase at Banavie. I know it well. The canal dimensions I don't as honestly, if a 50 ft fishing boat goes through- then that's fine.
But- the entry to the canal is at Corpach, close to the rail station. The narrows are a lot further up towards LochEil. Hence my suggestion of a bridge at the rear of the old Pulp mill. Achaphububil is almost a mile across the loch and over half a mile up stream. The gap narrows a bit further up to ( from Autoroute) only about 250 yards, more than a mile from the canal entrance. Not a great deal considering that the Balachulish bridge is ( same source) more than that. Similar distance to the tunnel under the Medway .

[Euan]

It’s hard enough to justify new bridges and tunnels being built in England, so why people think... oh I know, the English taxpayers Barnett formula’ll pay for it.

It’s closer to Norway don’t you know...

All the same, if you improve the A861, it’s still an alternative route to Mallaig. The main roads can get very busy (and slow) indeed with coaches and caravans, as I can also tell you from my visits.

I would agree that a bridge at Corran and an upgrade to the A861 would not drastically improve access to Mallaig, but it has just crossed my mind that it could serve as a Fort William bypass for traffic between Ballachulish and Mallaig. But with the current quality of the A861 along Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil it would probably be best to stay on the A82 through Fort William regardless of whether there is a bridge.

[OLD GIT]

Hence my suggestion of a bridge further up and spending the money saved in upgrading the A861, from almost single track to a decent road . In summer it( from my experience) was quicker ,even with two ferries running , to got the extra few miles, round than chance it at Corran, whilst waiting for some dimwit to rear end you queuing for the ferry.
But again, there is another underlying problem. Fort William, and it's antiquated road system. But then that is part of the under funding problem on Highland roads, being so far from Westminster.

[Burns]

You're missing my point about your northern bridge. If I'm approaching Corran from the south, I'm not going to drive right through Fort Hoach and backtrack down the A861, no matter how much is spent on an S2 upgrade. I'd still take the ferry because it'd be quicker.

[Nwallace]

Small cruise ships operate on the canal.
Any low bridge would need to be across Loch Eil rather than across Loch Linnhie.

A bridge over Loch Eil would improve access to Fort William for those living on the peninsuli, the job the Camusnagal ferry sort of currently does.

For those driving up via Ballachulish its tough cookie, you'd have to drive the extra distance as the corran ferry has been replaced. New Road schemes don't have to reduce the distance for tourists after all.

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[KeithW]

Berk- I know- I lived and worked in the area for a lot of years, with one of the few A single track roads existing into long after many C roads in the South were made wide. The south has had the investment, so why not do it up north. Your sort of thinking is why the odd fish in Edinburgh may well split the UK.

The Scottish government already controls its own road spending and construction program so splitting the UK would hardly make a difference there. The simple reality is Scotland, especially north of the central region is large and sparsely populated compared with SE and central England. We still have our share of single track roads up here in North Yorkshire, Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland. dont forget the A1 is S2 A1 north of Alnwick to the border at Berwick but then it has an AADT that is lower than most urban roads in Middlesex.

[KeithW]

Small cruise ships operate on the canal.
Any low bridge would need to be across Loch Eil rather than across Loch Linnhie.

A bridge over Loch Eil would improve access to Fort William for those living on the peninsuli, the job the Camusnagal ferry sort of currently does.

For those driving up via Ballachulish its tough cookie, you'd have to drive the extra distance as the corran ferry has been replaced. New Road schemes don't have to reduce the distance for tourists after all.

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The ships that use the Caledonian Canal are comparatively small and the deep channel is quite narrow so for a bridge at Corpach the clear span could be made short and high without much problem.

As for Corran larger more modern ferries are probably the way to go, any bridge would very expensive and look very out of place.

[alans]

How deep are the Corran Narrows? Either way, get the Norwegians in and they'll have it tunnelled in 5 minutes. Expect grades of 8 to 10%, though.

Th Corran Narrows deep channel appears to be between 17-21m at the ferry crossing point according to a navigation map

[Nwallace]

As for Corran larger more modern ferries are probably the way to go, any bridge would very expensive and look very out of place.

As it's a Highland Council service rather than a Transport Scotland one and the Maid very rarely runs the service alongside the Corran I'd be surprised if anything happens without TS taking over responsibility for the service, the council have made some noises indicating that they're prefer not to have it as one of their problems.

[Burns]

How deep are the Corran Narrows? Either way, get the Norwegians in and they'll have it tunnelled in 5 minutes. Expect grades of 8 to 10%, though.

Th Corran Narrows deep channel appears to be between 17-21m at the ferry crossing point according to a navigation map

You really wouldn't have to go down too far if a tunnel was ever given the go-ahead. Good to know.

[Berk]

How many road tunnels are there north of Glasgow again??

[Euan]

As for Corran larger more modern ferries are probably the way to go, any bridge would very expensive and look very out of place.

As it's a Highland Council service rather than a Transport Scotland one and the Maid very rarely runs the service alongside the Corran I'd be surprised if anything happens without TS taking over responsibility for the service, the council have made some noises indicating that they're prefer not to have it as one of their problems.

I suspect Transport Scotland would be best to take responsibility for a bridge at Corran. The problem however is the A861 not being a trunk route, while the A82 is a trunk route. There could even be some form of joint agreement between TS and Highland Council given the different road status on the two sides of the loch.

[Berk]

As for Corran larger more modern ferries are probably the way to go, any bridge would very expensive and look very out of place.

As it's a Highland Council service rather than a Transport Scotland one and the Maid very rarely runs the service alongside the Corran I'd be surprised if anything happens without TS taking over responsibility for the service, the council have made some noises indicating that they're prefer not to have it as one of their problems.

I suspect Transport Scotland would be best to take responsibility for a bridge at Corran. The problem however is the A861 not being a trunk route, while the A82 is a trunk route. There could even be some form of joint agreement between TS and Highland Council given the different road status on the two sides of the loch.

Yes, I think unless you could get some, or all of the A861 trunked (or primary at least), then TS will be very unlikely to get involved. And without them, or private money (anathema in Scotland, I know), there would be no chance of a bridge.

And there is absolutely zero chance of a tunnel either. Most likely only 10% chance of a bridge being built, if you’re very lucky.

[Burns]

How many road tunnels are there north of Glasgow again??

Well, all of Norway is north of Glasgow, so easily over 1000.

[Al__S]

I just can't see how it would even be close to possible to manipulate a value for money calculation to give a postive answer for a massive structure here without it being blatently obvious the figures were being unrealistically fiddled.

[Berk]

I just can't see how it would even be close to possible to manipulate a value for money calculation to give a postive answer for a massive structure here without it being blatently obvious the figures were being unrealistically fiddled.

+1.

A new ferry it is then.

[Big L]

Is there a good engineering or cost reason for not having some kind of swing / lift bridge big enough to allow the bigger boats through ?