NC500 Road Surface

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

Post Reply
Starling
Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2022 14:07

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by Starling »

jabbaboy wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 20:09
owen b wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 21:27 Like most parts of the UK my experience is that the quality of road surfacing in the Highlands is patchy (excuse the pun). There are lengthy sections of excellent standard surfaces eg. much of the A832 west from Garve to Kinlochewe. The A roads on Skye are generally very good or excellent, as is in my recollection the A835 from near Dingwall to Ullapool. Equally there are A roads which are crying out for resurfacing eg. the A82 from the Ballachulish Bridge to the Corran Ferry. The A87 from Invergarry for the first few miles is rather variable too. Some of the unimproved S1 A roads seem to have been left to decay in the expectation that the roads will be replaced by new S2 alignments before the resurfacing becomes essential eg. the S1 section of A832 west of Loch Maree and the S1 section of A890 in Glen Carron. By some distance the worst road surfaces I have encountered in Scotland were not in the Highland region, but on the Isle of Arran. It's five years since I was last there but there were some truly dreadful stretches on the main coast road round the island.
Must admit just come along the A890/A832 from Skye today and parts of it is up there for some of the worst surface I've ever experienced in the UK on a long distance A road. It's in an absolutely shocking state parts of it and I'm surprised a biker hasn't been seriously hurt. https://goo.gl/maps/MYtDkbUC3LSt8J5k6 - that pretty much sums up a large chunk of it and it's similar just outside Garve aswell. Not sure why they're not even making an effort to patch the holes considering that was over a month ago now.

There's been lots of resurfacing on the A87 though including the bit you've mentioned there. It's in great shape, to give credit, as it was a mess a few year back. The S1 section through Stromeferry has been done aswell, it seems they've tried to widen it as much as they can aswell as most of it is S1.5 now.
The A890/A832 is a horrific road.

Google maps sends people from Inverness to Skye along the A890/A832 when the A87 only takes a few minutes longer and is a far better road (probably because it is maintained by BEAR Scotland and not the Highland Council).The A87 has does have a higher deer strike risk at night time but that risk can be reduced by driving at 50mph.

One good side effect of the high fuel price seems to be that it seems to have put off a lot of people driving their large motorhomes up to the north of Scotland. People probably read the stories in the news about having to pay about £2.40 for a litre of diesel at Cluanie and decide the cost is not worth it.
jabbaboy
Member
Posts: 359
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 09:25
Location: Newcastle

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jabbaboy »

Starling wrote: Fri Jun 24, 2022 21:09 The A890/A832 is a horrific road.

Google maps sends people from Inverness to Skye along the A890/A832 when the A87 only takes a few minutes longer and is a far better road (probably because it is maintained by BEAR Scotland and not the Highland Council).The A87 has does have a higher deer strike risk at night time but that risk can be reduced by driving at 50mph.

One good side effect of the high fuel price seems to be that it seems to have put off a lot of people driving their large motorhomes up to the north of Scotland. People probably read the stories in the news about having to pay about £2.40 for a litre of diesel at Cluanie and decide the cost is not worth it.
Yeah can't disagree, it's a shame though as the section from the low railway bridge (not sure on the name) to Garve is probably one of the best over engineered S2 roads in the country. Amazing road if it wasn't riddled with pot holes. Mind the A82 along Loch Ness isn't particular a fun road either especially if you get stuck behind a camper van as there's no passing opportunities. Mind, the scenery makes up for it on both roads.

Just came from up there and must say there wasn't many campervans about compared to usual, they seemed to be all around the Aviemore area. Wonder if Covid might've have played a part without tourists getting flights across to Glasgow and hiring them out.
User avatar
owen b
Member
Posts: 9861
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 15:22
Location: Luton

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by owen b »

Just back from a week in Kyle of Lochalsh, and I made a mental note to look out for road conditions since this thread popped up.

From Kyle to the A887 turn, the A87 is in very good / excellent condition. A couple of short stretches have been done very recently : a stretch at Balmacara House which was resurfaced during my stay with a convoy operation (a tiny Smart car was going back and forth leading the convoy), and a stretch at Ardelve where the blacktop was obviously new and the white lines weren't yet down. From the A887 to the A82 at Invergarry there has obviously been a lot of work but there are still old stretches which are worn, poorly drained and uneven, though I didn't spot many potholes.

Except for the stretch through Onich village already mentioned, the A82 from Invergarry to the Erskine Bridge generally seemed ok. There are some older more uneven sections, but nothing really bad. Since my last trip that way there's been a substantial amount of resurfacing around Achtriochtan (lower Glencoe) and they've finally got round to resurfacing the A82 / A830 roundabout, which previously was dreadful. Of course there are some sections which are in great need of general improvement, particularly Tarbet to Inverarnan, but that's a different matter.

The most badly surfaced classified road I've been on this past week is the Erskine Bridge. The surface is badly worn and uneven, with some potholes bad enough to actively avoid driving over, especially around the expansion joints. I can imagine it'll cause a lot of disruption to repair, but it looks to me like it needs doing fairly urgently.
Owen
Starling
Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2022 14:07

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by Starling »

The Highland Council have approved a £44m bid for levelling up funds to be most spent on roads around the NC500. Some of that money will be for upgrading part of the A890.
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:

•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.

•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.

•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/articl ... ee_harbour
jabbaboy
Member
Posts: 359
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 09:25
Location: Newcastle

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jabbaboy »

Starling wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 18:00 The Highland Council have approved a £44m bid for levelling up funds to be most spent on roads around the NC500. Some of that money will be for upgrading part of the A890.
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:

•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.

•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.

•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/articl ... ee_harbour
Appendix 2 – NC500 Proposed Transport Interventions

Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port
1 A890 Balnacra – Lair Rail Bridge Road Design £12,600,000
2 A890 Culag Bridge – Balnacra Road Design £5,500,000
3 A896 Kishorn – Lochcarron Road Design £4,400,000
4 Passing Place Strategy on Single Track Roads including Cycle infrastructure and Safe Passage Refuges Strategy on Single Track Roads Road Safety £1,157,500
5 Permanent intelligent traffic monitoring sensors ( Achnasheen Junction and Strathcarron Junction Monitoring equipment £80,000
6 Gateway Settlement Signage (SPECIFIC NAMED SETTLEMENTS) Placemaking £50,000


Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access

7 A836 Naver Bridge to B871 Junction Road Design £4,100,000
8 Cape Wrath road recycle/reconstruction Cape Wrath Road Improvement £2,295,000
9 Kylesku: New waterproofing Bridges £1,600,000
10 A836 Braetongue to Rhitongue Road Design £1,200,000
11 Borgie: Concrete repairs Bridges £500,000
Passing Place Strategy on Single Track Roads including Cycle infrastructure and Safe Passage Refuges Strategy on Single Track Roads Road Safety £3,075,000
Permanent intelligent traffic monitoring sensors Ledmore Junction, Inchnadamph Junction, Laxford Bridge Junction, Tongue Junction Monitoring equipment £160,000
Gateway Settlement Signage (SPECIFIC NAMED SETTLEMENTS) Placemaking £140,000

That's the full list from the document. Not sure if it's enough but looks like there's plans to upgrade the last of the single track sections excluding Stromeferry between Skye and Garve.
Starling
Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2022 14:07

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by Starling »

jabbaboy wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 19:44
Starling wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 18:00 The Highland Council have approved a £44m bid for levelling up funds to be most spent on roads around the NC500. Some of that money will be for upgrading part of the A890.
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:

•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.

•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.

•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/articl ... ee_harbour
Appendix 2 – NC500 Proposed Transport Interventions

Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port
1 A890 Balnacra – Lair Rail Bridge Road Design £12,600,000
2 A890 Culag Bridge – Balnacra Road Design £5,500,000
3 A896 Kishorn – Lochcarron Road Design £4,400,000
4 Passing Place Strategy on Single Track Roads including Cycle infrastructure and Safe Passage Refuges Strategy on Single Track Roads Road Safety £1,157,500
5 Permanent intelligent traffic monitoring sensors ( Achnasheen Junction and Strathcarron Junction Monitoring equipment £80,000
6 Gateway Settlement Signage (SPECIFIC NAMED SETTLEMENTS) Placemaking £50,000


Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access

7 A836 Naver Bridge to B871 Junction Road Design £4,100,000
8 Cape Wrath road recycle/reconstruction Cape Wrath Road Improvement £2,295,000
9 Kylesku: New waterproofing Bridges £1,600,000
10 A836 Braetongue to Rhitongue Road Design £1,200,000
11 Borgie: Concrete repairs Bridges £500,000
Passing Place Strategy on Single Track Roads including Cycle infrastructure and Safe Passage Refuges Strategy on Single Track Roads Road Safety £3,075,000
Permanent intelligent traffic monitoring sensors Ledmore Junction, Inchnadamph Junction, Laxford Bridge Junction, Tongue Junction Monitoring equipment £160,000
Gateway Settlement Signage (SPECIFIC NAMED SETTLEMENTS) Placemaking £140,000

That's the full list from the document. Not sure if it's enough but looks like there's plans to upgrade the last of the single track sections excluding Stromeferry between Skye and Garve.
That would be great if all that got the final approval for the funding.

The Highland Council Councillors can be seen discussing it at the below link:

https://highland.public-i.tv/core/porta ... code=en_GB
clc
Member
Posts: 216
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2016 22:34

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by clc »

I drove from Inverness to Skye on Saturday and from Skye to Oban on Sunday.. Some observations: sections of the A9 from Kessock Bridge to Tore appear to be subsiding resulting in a less than smooth ride. The A835 from Tore to Garve is in very good condition and is nice to drive. The A832 from Garve to Achnasheen is quite worn but generally not too bumpy and still an enjoyable drive. Same goes for the A890 with the obvious exceptions of Coulags to Lair and around Stromeferry. The A87 is generally in very good condition and is a great driving road. The A855 from Portree to Staffin is generally very worn and most of it is badly in need of maintenance. Some sections of the S1 north of Portree are in an atrocious condition. The S1 from Staffin to Uig via the Quiraing viewpoint falls into the “never again” category, horrible drive made worse by a thick mist.

Hopefully Highland Council will get the levelling up funding to upgrade Coulag-Balnacra-Lair. Also, I was looking at the plans for Stromeferry Bypass and was pleased to see that the preferred route would also bypass the twisty S2 section south of Stromeferry.
User avatar
hat
Member
Posts: 251
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:25

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by hat »

one thing that's not mentioned here is that the choice of road surface materials in the highlands makes them absolute tyre munchers, especially for motorbikes/ scooters
jnty
Member
Posts: 1727
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2021 00:12

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jnty »

hat wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 08:50 one thing that's not mentioned here is that the choice of road surface materials in the highlands makes them absolute tyre munchers, especially for motorbikes/ scooters
Any ideas why - economy measure on less busy roads, local quarried stone, cold resistence?
User avatar
hat
Member
Posts: 251
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:25

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by hat »

probably the use of granite as a locally sourced material, and cold weather/ ice resistance
User avatar
orudge
Site Manager
Posts: 8261
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 12:23
Location: Banchory
Contact:

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by orudge »

On a general topic about road surfaces, I came across an older post I'd made referring to this Street View image of a newly resurfaced A855 in 2011, gleaming black tarmac, lovely and smooth. Look at the road now, just 11 years later, and it's a mess. It looks like it's been surfaced dressed at some point, then random blobs of tarmac stuck on top too - it seems to be a shocking deterioration over what is a relatively short timespan. (Certainly relative to an S2 road near me that I know was surface dressed in around 2012 and has only just been re-dressed now, while still in a quite decent condition.)
jnty
Member
Posts: 1727
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2021 00:12

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jnty »

orudge wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:24 On a general topic about road surfaces, I came across an older post I'd made referring to this Street View image of a newly resurfaced A855 in 2011, gleaming black tarmac, lovely and smooth. Look at the road now, just 11 years later, and it's a mess. It looks like it's been surfaced dressed at some point, then random blobs of tarmac stuck on top too - it seems to be a shocking deterioration over what is a relatively short timespan. (Certainly relative to an S2 road near me that I know was surface dressed in around 2012 and has only just been re-dressed now, while still in a quite decent condition.)
It may not be borne out by the stats but I feel like the last decade was when tourism really transformed in Skye - both in terms of raw numbers and in terms of certain landmarks becoming massive visitor attractors - the old man of Storr and the Quiraing, both accessed this way, being prime examples. Even when I visited the Storr in 2014 it didn't seem horribly underserved parking-wise by a long layby and patch of tarmac but now things have very much changed.

There's also been a boom in in the Rabbies and similar companies who use smaller tour buses which can practically use single track roads so the average weight of vehicles using the road has possibly increased - campervans and larger hire cars may be a factor here too. (There aren't many shops north of here and maybe one filling station so heavy traffic would be very rare previously.) You've also linked a double-to-single transition where vehicles of all types will be heavily braking and accelerating though I accept the condition is fairly representative. In short, I wonder whether the volume and weight of vehicles using it was significantly underestimated when re-surfacing this road - or perhaps more straightforwardly, the resurfacing didn't change that the road was never built for what it faces now - the wiki helpfully highlights that it rests upon a peat moor!

From the SABRE Wiki: A855 :


The A855 is approximately 33 miles long, encircling the beautiful Trotternish Peninsula at the north end of Skye. It is single-track for much of its length, undergoing fairly frequent repair as it is mostly built on top of a peat moor. Despite nominally being a coast road, the route is more often than not inland, with only glimpses of the sea available, particularly on the east coast of Trotternish. Despite this, however, it is a spectacular drive, and reveals some of Skye's finer

... Read More
User avatar
orudge
Site Manager
Posts: 8261
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 12:23
Location: Banchory
Contact:

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by orudge »

Yes, and at the same time, council budgets have also suffered greatly in real terms (certainly here, I can't imagine it's much different in Skye).
User avatar
hoagy_ytfc
Member
Posts: 632
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 00:10

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by hoagy_ytfc »

rhyds wrote: Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:08 You'll have a right blast
I did! I took in the Wrynose/Hardknott passes via a small detour on the way up (not so small in time, given the Lake District summer Saturday traffic). Then had a grand old time around the NC500 until I hit a pothole hard near Ullapool. One trashed tyre.

Thankfully that was a relatively large town, i.e. a place with hotels and I laid up there til the morning when the AA came out and said they could do nothing other than trailer me to Inverness to replace the tyre. Of course no-one had the right brand/model of tyre to match the rest, so I went for something relatively basic and took it easy heading home from there with one odd tyre. (Everywhere has the PS4, but not the way-better PS4S).

I got a new set of Pilot Sport 4S tyres fitted when I got back to Oxford.

Apart from that inconvenience, which cost me part of the Western leg, it was great fun and I'll def head up there to complete the run in the Spring.
User avatar
rhyds
Member
Posts: 13724
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 15:51
Location: Beautiful North Wales

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by rhyds »

hoagy_ytfc wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 01:41
rhyds wrote: Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:08 You'll have a right blast
I did! I took in the Wrynose/Hardknott passes via a small detour on the way up (not so small in time, given the Lake District summer Saturday traffic). Then had a grand old time around the NC500 until I hit a pothole hard near Ullapool. One trashed tyre.

Thankfully that was a relatively large town, i.e. a place with hotels and I laid up there til the morning when the AA came out and said they could do nothing other than trailer me to Inverness to replace the tyre. Of course no-one had the right brand/model of tyre to match the rest, so I went for something relatively basic and took it easy heading home from there with one odd tyre. (Everywhere has the PS4, but not the way-better PS4S).

I got a new set of Pilot Sport 4S tyres fitted when I got back to Oxford.

Apart from that inconvenience, which cost me part of the Western leg, it was great fun and I'll def head up there to complete the run in the Spring.
Glad you had fun and hard luck with the tyre incident.

You really don't realise how large the Highlands are until you need something like that. I always try and take a full size spare with me (a steel rim with the least worn tyre from the ones I last replaced) when touring, but I realise not all cars have the space to hold even a spacesaver spare these days.
Built for comfort, not speed.
User avatar
solocle
Member
Posts: 806
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 18:27

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by solocle »

jnty wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:56
orudge wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:24 On a general topic about road surfaces, I came across an older post I'd made referring to this Street View image of a newly resurfaced A855 in 2011, gleaming black tarmac, lovely and smooth. Look at the road now, just 11 years later, and it's a mess. It looks like it's been surfaced dressed at some point, then random blobs of tarmac stuck on top too - it seems to be a shocking deterioration over what is a relatively short timespan. (Certainly relative to an S2 road near me that I know was surface dressed in around 2012 and has only just been re-dressed now, while still in a quite decent condition.)
It may not be borne out by the stats but I feel like the last decade was when tourism really transformed in Skye - both in terms of raw numbers and in terms of certain landmarks becoming massive visitor attractors - the old man of Storr and the Quiraing, both accessed this way, being prime examples. Even when I visited the Storr in 2014 it didn't seem horribly underserved parking-wise by a long layby and patch of tarmac but now things have very much changed.

There's also been a boom in in the Rabbies and similar companies who use smaller tour buses which can practically use single track roads so the average weight of vehicles using the road has possibly increased - campervans and larger hire cars may be a factor here too. (There aren't many shops north of here and maybe one filling station so heavy traffic would be very rare previously.) You've also linked a double-to-single transition where vehicles of all types will be heavily braking and accelerating though I accept the condition is fairly representative. In short, I wonder whether the volume and weight of vehicles using it was significantly underestimated when re-surfacing this road - or perhaps more straightforwardly, the resurfacing didn't change that the road was never built for what it faces now - the wiki helpfully highlights that it rests upon a peat moor!
Yeah, the A855 is quite something. I was there last month.
Image
In comparison, the A87 is like butter all the way to Uig.
Image

From the SABRE Wiki: A855 :


The A855 is approximately 33 miles long, encircling the beautiful Trotternish Peninsula at the north end of Skye. It is single-track for much of its length, undergoing fairly frequent repair as it is mostly built on top of a peat moor. Despite nominally being a coast road, the route is more often than not inland, with only glimpses of the sea available, particularly on the east coast of Trotternish. Despite this, however, it is a spectacular drive, and reveals some of Skye's finer

... Read More
jnty
Member
Posts: 1727
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2021 00:12

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jnty »

solocle wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:40
jnty wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:56
orudge wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 14:24 On a general topic about road surfaces, I came across an older post I'd made referring to this Street View image of a newly resurfaced A855 in 2011, gleaming black tarmac, lovely and smooth. Look at the road now, just 11 years later, and it's a mess. It looks like it's been surfaced dressed at some point, then random blobs of tarmac stuck on top too - it seems to be a shocking deterioration over what is a relatively short timespan. (Certainly relative to an S2 road near me that I know was surface dressed in around 2012 and has only just been re-dressed now, while still in a quite decent condition.)
It may not be borne out by the stats but I feel like the last decade was when tourism really transformed in Skye - both in terms of raw numbers and in terms of certain landmarks becoming massive visitor attractors - the old man of Storr and the Quiraing, both accessed this way, being prime examples. Even when I visited the Storr in 2014 it didn't seem horribly underserved parking-wise by a long layby and patch of tarmac but now things have very much changed.

There's also been a boom in in the Rabbies and similar companies who use smaller tour buses which can practically use single track roads so the average weight of vehicles using the road has possibly increased - campervans and larger hire cars may be a factor here too. (There aren't many shops north of here and maybe one filling station so heavy traffic would be very rare previously.) You've also linked a double-to-single transition where vehicles of all types will be heavily braking and accelerating though I accept the condition is fairly representative. In short, I wonder whether the volume and weight of vehicles using it was significantly underestimated when re-surfacing this road - or perhaps more straightforwardly, the resurfacing didn't change that the road was never built for what it faces now - the wiki helpfully highlights that it rests upon a peat moor!
Yeah, the A855 is quite something. I was there last month.
Image
In comparison, the A87 is like butter all the way to Uig.
Image
I'm sure there will be lots of complicated factors here but the nationally maintained road being in good nick but the council one being a mess certainly goes along with a particular narrative about where the money from the extra tourism is ending up...

From the SABRE Wiki: A855 :


The A855 is approximately 33 miles long, encircling the beautiful Trotternish Peninsula at the north end of Skye. It is single-track for much of its length, undergoing fairly frequent repair as it is mostly built on top of a peat moor. Despite nominally being a coast road, the route is more often than not inland, with only glimpses of the sea available, particularly on the east coast of Trotternish. Despite this, however, it is a spectacular drive, and reveals some of Skye's finer

... Read More
jnty
Member
Posts: 1727
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2021 00:12

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by jnty »

Starling wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 18:00 The Highland Council have approved a £44m bid for levelling up funds to be most spent on roads around the NC500. Some of that money will be for upgrading part of the A890.
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:

•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.

•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.

•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/articl ... ee_harbour
This bid was unsuccessful. Given that this is the second time a bid for NC500 funding has failed, the council has chosen not to try again and will be pursuing funding for other projects next time.
Given the fact that the North Coast 500 bid has been unsuccessful in both rounds 1
and 2 of the Levelling Up fund, it is proposed that the Transport bid for Round 3
comprises a bid for the Corran Ferry replacement and shore-side infrastructure. This
assumes that each Local Authority is still able to make a bid up to a value of £50m (as
per previous rounds). If Members agree with this approach, a bid will be submitted,
supported by the approved Corran Ferry Outline Business Case (OBC) and the final
design details (Replacement Vessels and Shoreside Infrastructure), as the key
documents for securing the investment grant. It is worth noting that other successful
Levelling Up Fund bids for replacement Ferries and Infrastructure include:-
• Council of the Isles of Scilly - Major improvements to sea links - £48m; and
• Shetland Islands Council - Fair Isle Ferry Infrastructure Project - £27m
Starling
Member
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2022 14:07

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by Starling »

jnty wrote: Thu Aug 17, 2023 13:49
Starling wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 18:00 The Highland Council have approved a £44m bid for levelling up funds to be most spent on roads around the NC500. Some of that money will be for upgrading part of the A890.
Members agreed to the proposed resubmission of a transport bid based on the North Coast 500. Concentrating the funding into three elements which are costed at £44m and outlined below:

•Achnasheen to Kishorn: NC500 tourist route and Kishorn Port Access.

•Ullapool to Bettyhill: NC500 tourist route & key North Sutherland vehicle access.

•North Coast 500 Green Tourism Project
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/articl ... ee_harbour
This bid was unsuccessful. Given that this is the second time a bid for NC500 funding has failed, the council has chosen not to try again and will be pursuing funding for other projects next time.
Given the fact that the North Coast 500 bid has been unsuccessful in both rounds 1
and 2 of the Levelling Up fund, it is proposed that the Transport bid for Round 3
comprises a bid for the Corran Ferry replacement and shore-side infrastructure. This
assumes that each Local Authority is still able to make a bid up to a value of £50m (as
per previous rounds). If Members agree with this approach, a bid will be submitted,
supported by the approved Corran Ferry Outline Business Case (OBC) and the final
design details (Replacement Vessels and Shoreside Infrastructure), as the key
documents for securing the investment grant. It is worth noting that other successful
Levelling Up Fund bids for replacement Ferries and Infrastructure include:-
• Council of the Isles of Scilly - Major improvements to sea links - £48m; and
• Shetland Islands Council - Fair Isle Ferry Infrastructure Project - £27m
It is terrible that they are using leveling up funds on ferries. The government already wastes so much money on ferries they should be using the leveling up funds on things that are not ferries. I would have no objection to them using the money on replacing ferries with fixed links, but ferries are a total waste of government money.
User avatar
Big L
Deputy Site Manager
Posts: 7517
Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2010 20:36
Location: B5012

Re: NC500 Road Surface

Post by Big L »

Starling wrote: Fri Aug 18, 2023 14:26 It is terrible that they are using leveling up funds on ferries. The government already wastes so much money on ferries they should be using the leveling up funds on things that are not ferries. I would have no objection to them using the money on replacing ferries with fixed links, but ferries are a total waste of government money.
Ferry infrastructure projects are likely to be things like dock facilities, not actual boats or routes.
Make poetry history.

Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums?
Help with maps using the new online calibrator.
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki.
Post Reply