Linking the Outer Hebrides

[stuartf]

The Scotsman has reported on plans for a 174-mile route linking the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) in Scotland, with bridges over the Sound of Harris and Sound of Barra, connecting Harris, North and South Uist, and Barra. It's being proposed by Western Isles Council and tourism people, with the hope of getting central government funding. A tunnel from North Uist to Skye, linking the islands with the mainland road network, has been considered but is a lower priority.

It all seems a bit pie-in-the-sky, and it will have a major effect on what are now some very peaceful places, which makes me have slightly mixed feelings. But the Faroes are apparently linked in similar fashion already.

[rileyrob]

The Sound of Harris is generally very shallow, with a scattering of islands and reefs. There is therefore no real shipping route through the sound, and the ferry route is over an hour, and limited by tides. The widest gap is from Berneray to the next island, at about 2 miles, and so I don't think it would be a particularly difficult piece of engineering to provide a fixed link, either like the causeways between the Uists, or a stilted bridge. Perhaps the under sea options for foundations would be the limiting factors.

I am not so familiar with the Sound of Barra, having never used that ferry. However, I believe that the channel is considerably deeper in places and the gap from Eriskay to Fuday is around 3 miles, so a fixed link here would perhaps be less easy to construct. However, with not much more than 1000 people on Barra, the relative benefit of such a bridge would be less than the Sound of Harris crossing, so perhaps this could be a longer term plan.

I think that in recent years most of the A865/7 and A859 route has been upgraded to S2, so should be able to cope with any increase in traffic.

[Altnabreac]

Agreed that Sound of Harris is very much the priority as the crossing is longer and more challenging, the populations linked are higher and the engineering simpler.

I'm sceptical that a Sound of Barra fixed link would ever make sense and would certainly expect that a full S2 upgrade from Berneray to Eriskay (and finishing off the last few S2 sections on Harris) would have a better business case for upgrading the Spine Road journey times.

[nowster]

...Sound of Harris... Sound of Barra...

I used to have them on vinyl.

[XC70]

The Scotsman has reported on plans for a 174-mile route linking the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) in Scotland, with bridges over the Sound of Harris and Sound of Barra, connecting Harris, North and South Uist, and Barra. It's being proposed by Western Isles Council and tourism people, with the hope of getting central government funding. A tunnel from North Uist to Skye, linking the islands with the mainland road network, has been considered but is a lower priority.

It all seems a bit pie-in-the-sky, and it will have a major effect on what are now some very peaceful places, which makes me have slightly mixed feelings. But the Faroes are apparently linked in similar fashion already.

OK so I can see some political will and money being available for the completion of the causeways through the Outer Hebridies chain. Agree with comments about the Barra crossing so linking the Uists and Harris is the most likely first step.

However a tunnel from Skye? That is just pure pie in the sky(e). Next thing is someone will be suggesting a tunnel from the bottom of the Mull of Kintyre to Northern Ireland......

[Nwallace]

What needs to be considered is that at present you can sail

Ullapool to Stornoway
Uig to Tarbert
Uig to Lochmaddy
Mallaig/Oban to Lochboisdail
Oban to Castlebay

The islands are then linked by
Leverburgh to Berneray
Eriskay to Barra

If the bridge over the Sound of Harris (There's an example of Norse remaining in English, the Gaelic is Caolas which is Anglicised as Kyle) was built that would mean that the Uig sailing could be concentrated on either Lochmaddy or Tarbert; there would be a ruckus locally but that gives more sailings covering both islands.

If the bridge of the Sound of Barra was built it would link the Castlebay service which uses the Isle of Lewis at something like 40% capacity with the Uists chain.
So the Lochmaddy service could be canned, again that would cause a fuss locally.

So the bridges would allow sailings to be concentrated on the top, bottom and middle of the island chain rather than the current 5 routes.
That then means Calmac needs 2 less small boats, one of which has to be Pump Jet propelled.
And potentially 2 less major units (or more likely double shipping on the Uig-Middle and Oban-Bottom services)


The locals are currently in the huff because Clansman is delayed in Drydock, so Hebrides is being sent to do Coll/Tiree as Heb Isles can't return to that service until it's found out why she lost a significant portion of metal work in a rope incident at Tiree earlier this year.
Heb Isles is being sent instead to the Uig Triangle where she'll not cope with the traffic.

What none of them are considering is calmac will send Uist traffic to Castlebay where there is oodles of capacity and then onwards over the Sound of Barra (which will have 2 boats on it)

[Ruperts Trooper]

Do the Harris-N Uist and S Uist-Barra traffic volumes or economic growth justify that sort of expenditure?

A tunnel to Skye would weather-proof the Little Minch routes but Uig is still a long way from the main Scottish road network.

I can only speak of the Western Isles as a tourist, but the ferries are an essential part of the character of the islands.

[M4 Cardiff]

How deep is the Minch channel between Skype and the Hebrides? Maybe an immersed tube tunnel could work. May be possible to use the same to connect the islands together to weather proof the route.

[Ruperts Trooper]

How deep is the Minch channel between Skype and the Hebrides? Maybe an immersed tube tunnel could work. May be possible to use the same to connect the islands together to weather proof the route.

Around 150m but a deeper "hole" off Dunvegan Head http://maps.nls.uk/view/101950868

[rileyrob]

Do the Harris-N Uist and S Uist-Barra traffic volumes or economic growth justify that sort of expenditure?

As far as I understand, the limitation with the tides means that the Sound of Harris ferry is normally fully booked, especially through the tourist season which these days means March - October. I believe that they could operate two ferries at nearly full capacity over the peak summer, but because of the difficult nature of the sound, the expense of a second bespoke vessel is prohibitive, and could not easily be utilised elsewhere.
The tides also mean that there is no easy way of increasing the number of sailings with the one vessel for many days each year, and that the timetable can vary quite a lot, with some sailings missing completely when Low Tide falls at the wrong time.
I also seem to remember a few years ago the winter refit relief was actually Tarbet - Lochmaddy for a time due to no suitable vessel for the sound being available.

So yes, there is already a lot more traffic than the ferry can cope with, and the potential for a lot more, with a fixed link providing a massive benefit for access to services for the Uists population, and probably economic growth in an area which is suffering by many measures. Sure, the better connection to Stornoway might mean that some services on the Uists become uneconomic in some respects, but I can see this being countered in the longer term by population growth because the access to Stornoway allows people to consider moving to the Uists when at present they would not. I also suspect it would boost Harris.

[c2R]

Money doesn't seem too much of an issue; given in 1997 a large bridge was built to link Scalpay for a population of about 300 people, completing the spine route in the outer Hebrides seems reasonable. Barra and Vatersey have about 1200 people, and linking them makes them more sustainable as permanent settlements which I assume is why Scalpay and Great Bernera got their bridges and the whole causeway system linking places like Eriskay has been constructed. I suspect that unless the whole lot is linked to the mainland via a fixed link to Skye, there wouldn't really be any real change in the feel of the place, and it will do more to encourage tourism I suspect.

[KeithW]

Money doesn't seem too much of an issue; given in 1997 a large bridge was built to link Scalpay for a population of about 300 people, completing the spine route in the outer Hebrides seems reasonable. Barra and Vatersey have about 1200 people, and linking them makes them more sustainable as permanent settlements which I assume is why Scalpay and Great Bernera got their bridges and the whole causeway system linking places like Eriskay has been constructed. I suspect that unless the whole lot is linked to the mainland via a fixed link to Skye, there wouldn't really be any real change in the feel of the place, and it will do more to encourage tourism I suspect.

The bridge to Scalpay is of course only 300 m long with a 170 m span and cost about 6.5 million 20 years ago. 65% of that came from an EU Fund (through the Objective One Programme) that needless to say would not be accessible now. The bridges needed for a Outer Hebrides spine would be much longer and more expensive so you would actually be talking serious money here and I suspect it would indeed be a major issue.

[M4 Cardiff]

Thanks to Rupert's link, it appears that the Sound of Harris is not particularly deep. Such a crossing (barring environmental concerns) could probably be done mainly by causeway, with a number of smaller spans.

[orudge]

In comparison, the new AWPR bridge over the River Dee (and over a road too) is apparently 270m long.

There have been various discussions over the past 15 years (and probably longer ago too) about linking either some of the Orkney islands to mainland Orkney (typically Shapinsay is suggested), or linking Orkney itself (South Ronaldsay) to mainland Scotland. To be honest, I’m somewhat doubtful the latter will ever happen. The former seems more likely, but I suppose it depends on costs and benefits.

[rileyrob]

Thanks to Rupert's link, it appears that the Sound of Harris is not particularly deep. Such a crossing (barring environmental concerns) could probably be done mainly by causeway, with a number of smaller spans.

The Sound isn't particularly deep, but I think there can be some strong tidal races which, combined with environmental concerns, may see a need for more bridge and less causeway than you might think. I know they got away with mostly causeway for the North and South Fords on the Uists, but this was 50ish years ago and I think that the conditions in the Sound of Harris are quite different.

[Ruperts Trooper]

Thanks to Rupert's link, it appears that the Sound of Harris is not particularly deep. Such a crossing (barring environmental concerns) could probably be done mainly by causeway, with a number of smaller spans.

The Sound isn't particularly deep, but I think there can be some strong tidal races which, combined with environmental concerns, may see a need for more bridge and less causeway than you might think. I know they got away with mostly causeway for the North and South Fords on the Uists, but this was 50ish years ago and I think that the conditions in the Sound of Harris are quite different.

Uist's South Ford causeway does have a major design flaw which resulted in tragedy in 2005 during a severe storm - the causeway blocked most of the storm surge through South Ford leading to violent flooding during the high tide. Any new causeway in the Western Isles would need far more capability for tides to flow through the causeway itself, not just through any bridge arrangements

[Big L]

If there's going to be an application for EU money they have better get on with it sharpish.

[Berk]

If there's going to be an application for EU money they have better get on with it sharpish.

What if Scotland goes independent and stays in the EU??

[Big L]

If there's going to be an application for EU money they have better get on with it sharpish.

What if Scotland goes independent and stays in the EU??

They had better get on with that sharpish.

[exiled]

In comparison, the new AWPR bridge over the River Dee (and over a road too) is apparently 270m long.

There have been various discussions over the past 15 years (and probably longer ago too) about linking either some of the Orkney islands to mainland Orkney (typically Shapinsay is suggested), or linking Orkney itself (South Ronaldsay) to mainland Scotland. To be honest, I’m somewhat doubtful the latter will ever happen. The former seems more likely, but I suppose it depends on costs and benefits.

Hoy and Shapinsay could by a simple look at the map be interesting, though would Shapinsay would interfere in the cruise ship routes. For linking South Ronaldsay with Caithness, I take it the plan would be island hop across the Pentland?