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roybacer
24-Aug-05, 10:21
whats happened to the road in thurso passing the train station on the way up to the high school/college road,another messed up attempt to resurface the road?or ANOTHER temporary road surface,the best road i came across are at the calum miller site opposite dunbar hospital in thurso,puts all the roads up here to shame,and out by weydale the road is yet again getting patched why does it only get done in bits it isnt even smooth its rough obviously a very very strict budget,id jus leave the roads the way they were coz they are certainly not improving :lol:

brandy
24-Aug-05, 11:52
have you seen the road going to lidls in wick insane!

roybacer
24-Aug-05, 13:33
its enuf to put the alignment on my suspension in a bit of mess,roads here are a joke,1 joke im not laughing at!!!

William
25-Aug-05, 00:32
have you seen the road going to lidls in wick insane!

I totally agree that bit is pure hellish, i have seen farm tracks in better condition

Mad Martigan
25-Aug-05, 08:46
Aye, how the council let the state of road repairs outside Lidl in Wick get that bad I'll never know - it is truly dreadful. And the work Roadwork done (by Scottish Water I think) heading out of Wick on the A99 is appalling, in some spots the road dips dangerously low where the new tarmac was layed. Like riding a bucking bronco on a motobike!

roybacer
25-Aug-05, 16:15
who do i complain to?and will anything be done about it?that cud easily send the wheel alignment off on a car causing it to wear on inside or outside of tyre!!!! or even throw the balancing off,can any1 name a bit off road that is actually flat and smooth for a good distance in caithnessit seems to be all patches and not fully repaired,id ratehr drive a farm road!!!

beena
25-Aug-05, 17:13
If you want to moan at someone take it up with Bear not the council as they no longer do that road at lidils by Wick the council road workers work very hard maintaining the roads that they are responsable for.

Mad Martigan
25-Aug-05, 19:12
Well, apologies to the council and Thanks to Beena and Jocmace for putting me straight, didn't realise that part of the road was covered by Bear as well. I'll write to them instead. :evil

Bill Fernie
25-Aug-05, 19:22
The road out from Wick will be resurfaced all the way out to Toftcarl.

Whilst that may adress the issue of the bumpy ride wa hae all ben having over the past few months there is another dig on the way I understand. Scottish Gas will be descending on Wick to relay gas pipes in p[arts of the twon so we may see someof the same road dug once again.

On the Pultneytown side there will a big dig of roads once they get oto the pipe workk for the wick Heat and Poewer scheme. This will require a pipe to be laid round all of the streets n Pulteneytown in the first phase of the new heating sceme.

Hopefuly this is a good thing in the long run for Wick as it is major investment in the infrastructure and hopefully will lead to warmer homes at a cheaper price.

The new water pipes being laid have life I understand of probably 80 -100 years so although we take our ututlitiesd for granted they do need to be renewed from time to time and much of it is out of sight we at least we know that it is there for the future.

Mad Martigan
25-Aug-05, 19:37
Whilst that may adress the issue of the bumpy ride wa hae all ben having over the past few months there is another dig on the way I understand. Scottish Gas will be descending on Wick to relay gas pipes in p[arts of the twon so we may see someof the same road dug once again.

Hopefuly this is a good thing in the long run for Wick as it is major investment in the infrastructure and hopefully will lead to warmer homes at a cheaper price.


It would be a good thing if all the big utilities companies contacted each other before digging up our roads and then maybe townsfolk would only be inconvenienced once every few years rather than what seems like every few months.

moose and Lindsay
25-Aug-05, 20:30
whats happened to the road in thurso passing the train station on the way up to the high school/college road,another messed up attempt to resurface the road? :lol:

It was resurfaced yesterday and about time to!!

roybacer
25-Aug-05, 23:51
iam talkin about thurso not lidls and i saw the council tryin to sirt its pathetic and how r we all suposed to know who owns what road they are all pathetic bumpy and are not maintained to any standard what so ever

Sairheed
26-Aug-05, 07:45
Undoubtedly a factor in the state of a lot of the road in Caithness is due to the non stop haul of fish from Scrabster; mainly from Faroes.

It is doubtful if any economic benefit from this trade outweighs the cost in terms of road damage.

jay
26-Aug-05, 09:22
last post totally irrelevant! I have never seen a fish lorry going across castlegreen road or up towards the college and these are the two worst streets in thurso - it is purely down to shoddy work and cheap materials being used to cut costs. both of our cars are marked and both have chipped windscreens from the last attempts to resuface these roads - we wait with interest to see if this latest skim of tar painted on will make any difference!

roybacer
26-Aug-05, 09:58
im sure 1 decent job instead of 3times a year wud be alot cheaper,dosnt take a proffesional to figure out the roads r rubbish,i dont care if its the council or bear they both do shoddy rubbish jobs of the roads consequence i got a very chipped windscreen,thats what i pay road tax for is it?

weeboyagee
26-Aug-05, 10:38
There is no debate to be had over this. The roads in Caithness are rediculous - an aboslute disgrace! They are a discouragement to tourists - Coaches, Caravans, cars, you name it. They incur the wrath of the locals who have to put up with sub standard servicing and second class travel provision. In this modern world it is NOT acceptable to have to be satisfied with the poor standard of roads that we have.

By the way, I don't accept that Bear or the Highland Council are one better than the other - I am well aware what one thinks about the other. I don't care for their funding issues - different quality road surfaces are one thing - but poor quality workmanship is another - and both these issues provide for ample amounts of problems in our county. Nice to see the roads being provided to the standard at the Ord and Berriedale, hilarious there is such a gulf of quality between them and the rubble placed beneath our wheels elsewhere!

The road to Thrumster from Wick at the moment with the uneven road surface and countless pot holes at the left hand verge is a danger to the travelling public and a disgrace to the quality image of this county. The fact it is as a result of improving other services is irrelevant - dig it up and repair it - PROPERLY!!! Our roads in general are poorly attended to and badly repaired when laying services. There are COUNTLESS examples in this county of this.

Lots of heavy traffic using the road??? Dear me, should we ban them? Replace the big lorries with lots of wee ones? Send the fish to other markets? Get a grip! Provide the quality of communication required by the county's economy and it will blossom. Suit the economy to the quality of communication system we are prepared to provide and given the state of the roads - it will go bust sooner rather than later!!!

The persons and companies responsible need to take a long look at themselves and their operations. You do nothing for the county's economy and even less for our belief in you capabilities!!!! [mad]

fred
26-Aug-05, 11:11
There is no debate to be had over this. The roads in Caithness are rediculous - an aboslute disgrace! They are a discouragement to tourists - Coaches, Caravans, cars, you name it. They incur the wrath of the locals who have to put up with sub standard servicing and second class travel provision. In this modern world it is NOT acceptable to have to be satisfied with the poor standard of roads that we have.


I disagree.

I'd say our roads are some of the best in Britain. The problem is that people in Caithness have been spoilt by having exceptionally good roads for so long as soon as they start catching up with the rest of Britain and get the occasional bad spot they complain.

I used to drive all over England 20 years ago and even then there wasn't an area with roads which were a patch on the roads in Caithness now. I used to have to allow an hour to drive 10 miles, there were roadworks with long delays every few miles and the roads were bumper to bumper with cars.

The roads in Caithness are a pleasure to drive on, down in England they were a nightmare which never ended it just got worse.

Cliff Claven
26-Aug-05, 16:24
Well said Fred!

If weeboyagee and co got off their high horses and saw the state of the roads everywhere else in the country (Edinburgh prime example!) then they would realise that the roads in caithness are far from "an absolute disgrace".

roybacer
26-Aug-05, 17:14
yes fred 20 years ago in england this is now we are talking about and not england,if this is the best roads in britain i would hate to see the worst,there is no doubt in my mind these are 1 off the worst i have ever seenif the roads are so good why do they get dug up every 6weeks and still are uneven

jacktar
26-Aug-05, 17:36
Cliff claven wrote-
Well said Fred!

If weeboyagee and co got off their high horses and saw the state of the roads everywhere else in the country (Edinburgh prime example!) then they would realise that the roads in caithness are far from "an absolute disgrace".


Why should they get of their high horse,why should the roads become substandard just because everyone else has them.It's alot easier to keep them up to grade than letting them deteriate

fred
26-Aug-05, 18:41
yes fred 20 years ago in england this is now we are talking about and not england,if this is the best roads in britain i would hate to see the worst,there is no doubt in my mind these are 1 off the worst i have ever seenif the roads are so good why do they get dug up every 6weeks and still are uneven

You think the roads in England have improved any in the last 20 years? They haven't, there are more people using them and more people digging them up than ever.

Instead of looking at one small part of the picture step back and see the whole thing. We can drive mile after mile not leaving 5th gear, Thurso to Wick only having to slow down a little for Watten, parking is easy and free when you get there.

If anyone knows a better place to drive than Caithness let me know where it is, even just going down to Inverness I can't wait to get back over that Ord so I can have a road to myself again.

peter macdonald
26-Aug-05, 18:56
Who cares what the roads are like in England .The point is certain roads in the county are a disgrace Thrumster to Wick is a prime example... The potholes are deep and can throw inexperienced drivers into the verge Also there were 5 sets of traffic lights to negotiate to get to the town centre on the A99 .The road outside the college is little better and deteriorating. All this rubbish about how the bad things are in the south is irrelevant...we pay our taxes and should be entitled to value for our money

fred
26-Aug-05, 19:59
Who cares what the roads are like in England .The point is certain roads in the county are a disgrace Thrumster to Wick is a prime example... The potholes are deep and can throw inexperienced drivers into the verge Also there were 5 sets of traffic lights to negotiate to get to the town centre on the A99 .The road outside the college is little better and deteriorating. All this rubbish about how the bad things are in the south is irrelevant...we pay our taxes and should be entitled to value for our money

The road from Thrumster to Wick is bad because they are in the process of replacing water pipes there at the moment. I drove to Wick and back today and it wasn't too bad at all, the worst was in the town but even at 30 miles an hour, the limit, it was manageable. A few weeks ago there were some badly repaired holes along that stretch of road for a while which I agree were a bit daunting but they seem to have been dealt with now at least to an adequate standard till the work is finished and a permanent repair can be made.

I don't see that the state of the roads down south is irrelevant, they must have 10 times as many cars to the mile down there as here at least, hence ten times the revenue, yet
our roads are ten times as good. Sounds like good value to me.

weeboyagee
28-Aug-05, 20:28
Fred - you have GOT to be winding me up. If I say chalk, you'll say cheese. I pay through the nose like every other driver up here - road tax, increased petrol costs and the lack of big time garage chains providing competition for the higher than average garage costs. I drive a lot, 32,000 miles in a year is NOT an exaggeration so:


...If weeboyagee and co got off their high horses and saw the state of the roads everywhere else in the country (Edinburgh prime example!)
...jacktar now knows that I drive enough of the country to know what I am talking about. The fact that most of the forum users know I'm a jambo, born and brought up in the Edinburgh area, to use Edinburgh as an example has me in stitches! :eyes Anyway! Why should I need to know the state of the roads elsewhere? I am not satisfied with the roads in Caithness by a long shot. They ARE an absolute disgrace.


...I drove to Wick and back today and it wasn't too bad at all, the worst was in the town but even at 30 miles an hour, the limit, it was manageable
It beggers belief what you write Fred!..."it wasn't TOO bad",...."the worst was in the town"..."it was manageable". We pay for roads that do not have chips lying loose because they are not picked up for days/weeks later, they are dispersed by road users, under 20mph max speed signs but we STILL get broken windscreens galore - I replaced mine three times last year - FURIOUS - no, your damn right I am not satisfied with the roads - they are an absolute disgrace. The fact that the roads are what you would term above average in terms of the provision to the masses is not an acceptable arguement to me. We pay for a service and we do not receive it, end of story.


The road from Thrumster to Wick is bad because they are in the process of replacing water pipes there at the moment
The road is bad. Glad you said it. They are replacing pipes. Why is not so simple to fill the hole they dug up to the level of the road again once repaired!!!??? Whats the unbelievable difficulty here? They have not been dealt with adequately - far from it.

The fact that we have no traffic congestion is not some sort of consolation.

The fact I have to fork out for the damage to my car and have to pick up a greater amount of deterioration to its value because of the tar, chips, scratches, punctures caused by the poor road surfacing and the poor workmanship in this county infuriates me. I believe that our road surfaces are amongst the poorest in the country - in my opinion and if you guys get (to quote) off your high horses and travel the length and breadth of the country that I do - you won't think that your teaching your granny how to suck eggs! [mad]

fred
29-Aug-05, 09:52
[quote="weeboyagee"
It beggers belief what you write Fred!..."it wasn't TOO bad",...."the worst was in the town"..."it was manageable". We pay for roads that do not have chips lying loose because they are not picked up for days/weeks later, they are dispersed by road users, under 20mph max speed signs but we STILL get broken windscreens galore - I replaced mine three times last year - FURIOUS - no, your damn right I am not satisfied with the roads - they are an absolute disgrace. The fact that the roads are what you would term above average in terms of the provision to the masses is not an acceptable arguement to me. We pay for a service and we do not receive it, end of story.
[/quote]

No I'm not winding you up weeboygee I just don't think you're painting an accurate picture of the state of the roads. I've been driving around Caithness for over 15 years now and I've never broken a windscreen yet.

The roads arn't perfect, the roads arn't perfect anywhere, if you say something is bad you have to say what you are comparing it to or it is meaningless.

weeboyagee
29-Aug-05, 16:30
I'm comparing it to the roads that I drove on to Poolewe on Friday night via Mound, Lairg, Leadmore, Ullapool, Corrieshalloch Gorge, Aultbea, then down past Gairloch to Achnasheen and Dingwall before heading to Inverness. Then back up the road this morning.

I am comparing it to the A82 going from Inverness to Fort William, down to Glasgow, OR turning off at Ballachulish and going to Oban, then down to Lochgilphead, Strachur and over to Dunoon or down to Campbeltown which I did last weekend.

Comparing it to driving up the A1 or the M1, or the M6 and some of its feeder roads. North, South, East and West, I'm comparing it to most of the Islands I travel over to.

The only roads that by their nature of geographical location - NOT by their road surface, are poorer (or lets say require a higher standard of driving awareness) are the Bealach Na Ba going to Applecross from the Loch Carron-Torridon road, the Calvine coast road on the west coast of Mull, one or two of the roads in Lewis (including the Pentland road) and lets say the 2 mile stretch being upgraded currently heading down to Loch Maree and Kinlochewe.

The road SURFACE compares with the poor quality in Caithness only (for my money) on the A82 Loch Lomond side near Tarbet and the stretch before Strath Carron going over Strome and Reraig on the way to Kyle of Lochalsh. That's enough comparison for Scotland - there's plenty more where that came from and there's plenty more in England as well. I've been driving round the roads the length and breadth of the country BUT since the posting yesterday I paid extra special attention to the journey up the A9 this morning!

Fred, you're wrong (IMHO of course!) There are a few examples the length and breadth of the country in terms of poor road quality but we in Caithness have MORE than our share in abundance.

The road surface is great up to Helmsdale. Apart from the road works at the Ord (which by the way, is now realising the achievement of the project for phase one) there is a distinct deterioration in the road surface and verging starting at Newport (where the recent road works at the braes stops), more at Borgue, OK past Dunbeath, and poor again the whole way from Lybster to Wick at staggered stages. Thrumster to Wick is especially poor. The town is a disgrace.

The comparisons are numerous. You say you haven't had a broken windscreen yet? I remember a thread on here last year when they resurfaced the Thurso/Wick road via Watten and the Autoglass company not being able to keep up with the supply of glass for windscreen repair. Miss that did you? The council didn't. They and Bear did an ignorant job of public relations and quality assurance. A waste of public money, typical of lack of accountability and infuriatingly complacent. Roybacer is quite right to complain about the quality of the roads. They are typical of what we in Caithness take for granted - poor quality, poor service and inflated prices. Little wonder tour companies are openly warning clients NOT to travel to our county - because as locals we demand little in terms of quality to attract them here - and your "satisfied with what I have" attitude does little to change the picture!

roybacer
29-Aug-05, 21:11
starting to bore me people the roads are rediculous up here dont care about anywhere else,sumfin needs done about it.

hereboy
29-Aug-05, 21:40
exactly roybacer - back on track - progess!

So what can be done about it? Any ideas? Anyone?

daviddd
29-Aug-05, 22:06
I agree that the roads up here are OK compared to south - we've just been to Devon and back, 2200 miles, and many of the roads were abominable. They are getting worse up here though due to underfunding, we may have to pay more road tax to get improvements.

And I understand that the new surface near the college and on Castlegreen Road are only temporary?

peter macdonald
29-Aug-05, 22:12
Weeboyagee and boyracer Thanks for your replies in my absence .Each year I drive aprox 30K miles and include the A54 M6 M74 etc in my travels and have yet to see surfacing as bad as we have in certain parts of Caithness. Gunns have made a good job at Berriedale and now at Navidale Millers have made a good job at Thurso but for Fred to defend the standard of work between Thrumster and Wick and in Wick itself beggars belief.
I notice he did not menton the road outside the college in Thurso!! I wonder which roads Fred means when he says things are much worse in the South??? Or by definition maybe we should be glad to have roads of any standard at all in the far north????

roybacer
29-Aug-05, 22:32
temporary seems to pop up to often for my liking,iam payin tax for what?a 10 pot hole to 5metres in front of me ratio its so stupid patchin bits up if its gona be done do it proper!!! wether it affects traffic or whatever i would rather c my tax goin sumwhere as far as iam conserned iam payin tax but i dont think my road tax goes towards roads it prob goes to the thugs in jail who get the ps2s or people who arent interested in getting a job

hammers
29-Aug-05, 23:26
If you want to moan at someone take it up with Bear not the council as they no longer do that road at lidils by Wick the council road workers work very hard maintaining the roads that they are responsable for.
It's no Bear either this time though, cant blame them !! :)

fred
30-Aug-05, 09:30
Weeboyagee and boyracer Thanks for your replies in my absence .Each year I drive aprox 30K miles and include the A54 M6 M74 etc in my travels and have yet to see surfacing as bad as we have in certain parts of Caithness. Gunns have made a good job at Berriedale and now at Navidale Millers have made a good job at Thurso but for Fred to defend the standard of work between Thrumster and Wick and in Wick itself beggars belief.


I think the fact that they are in the process of laying new water pipes along that stretch of the road at the moment is a pretty good defence.

fred
30-Aug-05, 09:34
exactly roybacer - back on track - progess!

So what can be done about it? Any ideas? Anyone?

Seems to me like the council has only two choices. They can do nothing and have people complaining about potholes or they can resurface and have people complaining about broken windscreens.

theone
30-Aug-05, 10:43
Well I was delighted at the way castlegreen road has turned out. At least they never tried putting those chippings on like they did two years ago!

However I think they should have dug the old road up before they did it. There's not even an inch of kerb in some places.

As for the road going past burnside, why is it not as smooth as the road past BT?

roybacer
30-Aug-05, 12:10
well i posted about the college road and weydale,not thrumster or castlegreen road,and the council dont hav to put chippings down whats wrong wiv the other black tar u get?i hear chippings are to improve grip in winter?well it makes no difference what so ever speed+snow=dangerous cheap stupid chippings that do nothing but break windscreens and eat away at ur paintwork shudnt be an option they are rubbish,i have them where iam and wen the council first put them on it was like a gravel rally track if sum1 went fast enuf and a car came round the corner and broke excessively it would simply cause a crash,in a nut shell chippings are rubbighs the council are over paid for underworking at least bear can surface a road properly instead of takin the cheap option and causing more hassle than is worth.

weeboyagee
30-Aug-05, 14:03
I think the fact that they are in the process of laying new water pipes along that stretch of the road at the moment is a pretty good defence
It is NO defence. Dig up the roads as much as they want but repair it properly. Temporary surface should not mean a poor shoddy surface that they can repair properly later.


Seems to me like the council has only two choices. They can do nothing and have people complaining about potholes or they can resurface and have people complaining about broken windscreens.
*throws toys back in pram*...aw c'mon fred!:roll: Repair the roads properly with a quality road surface, leaving no potholes and an even driving surface. Simple. Whats so difficult? Answer me the question! Why should they be allowed to provide the surface and poor quality workmanship that is delivered regardless of where the road is? C'mon then, tell me, why?


I agree that the roads up here are OK compared to south - we've just been to Devon and back, 2200 miles, and many of the roads were abominable.
Well which roads did you take then? I travelled the road from here to Great Torrington in Devon by car and back. I disagree, the roads were superb in comparison to what we have in Caithness. Even the back roads in Devon to Great Torrington are better than some of our major routes in Caithness.

There are many examples where the whole chipped surface has come away leaving a rumble patch for us to drive on - or avoid!

Write to Bear and the Council telling them of your complaint with specific examples - that is harder to handle. Ask them for their proposals to the public for the remedial works. If you are not satisfied with the answer, get back on to them and involve your local councilor and your MP. Hold them to accountability for their poor provision of quality and service. The road surface that we get here should not contrast so greatly from place to place. And no, I am NOT prepared to even THINK of an increase in tax or other public seizure of money to make it easier for the public bodies to do a better job with the cash they have in the first place! Whether it is enough or not.

Fred, out of interest, what kind of car do you drive. Has it not been damaged in any way at all by the road surfaces or the road level? How many miles do you do? I don't care who posts about what roads, the fact that most of us agree that they are substandard and provided to us as second class citizens of the UK (which some are prepared to accept!) is not good enough! :mad:

squidge
30-Aug-05, 14:20
Dig up the roads as much as they want but repair it properly. Temporary surface should not mean a poor shoddy surface that they can repair properly later.

.... Repair the roads properly with a quality road surface, leaving no potholes and an even driving surface. Simple. Whats so difficult? Answer me the question! Why should they be allowed to provide the surface and poor quality workmanship that is delivered regardless of where the road is? C'mon then, tell me, why?



there is quite a lobby about this now nationwide i believe. It appears that the black "glue" that is put down to seal gaps between new and old surfaces where work has been done may have been responsible for the deaths of several motorcyclists. there was a programme about it on the TV. In addition the practice wihich has been adoptred of mixing the chippings with the tar BEFORE laying it on the road increases the stopping distances of cars to a potentially dangerous level.

They mess with our road surfaces and they can actually be rishking OUR lives. I think this might be something we all should be concerned about. They shoudl NOT be allowed to cut corners to save money in this particular situation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/06_june/20/roads.shtml

hereboy
30-Aug-05, 16:32
Write to Bear and the Council telling them of your complaint with specific examples - that is harder to handle. Ask them for their proposals to the public for the remedial works. If you are not satisfied with the answer, get back on to them and involve your local councilor and your MP. Hold them to accountability for their poor provision of quality and service. The road surface that we get here should not contrast so greatly from place to place. And no, I am NOT prepared to even THINK of an increase in tax or other public seizure of money to make it easier for the public bodies to do a better job with the cash they have in the first place! Whether it is enough or not.

There is your solution -give it your all ,as many of you as are concerned. The "They" the council won't do anything different until the "you" the people that care drive them to action...

Have fun and drive safe. ;)

fred
30-Aug-05, 21:29
*throws toys back in pram*...aw c'mon fred!:roll: Repair the roads properly with a quality road surface, leaving no potholes and an even driving surface. Simple. Whats so difficult? Answer me the question! Why should they be allowed to provide the surface and poor quality workmanship that is delivered regardless of where the road is? C'mon then, tell me, why?


I'm not an expert on filling in holes but from what little experience I've had it isn't the getting level that's difficult it's the keeping it that way, very near impossible I've found and I've never had to fill in a hole that would have 16 wheelers running over it all day and night.

Seems to me there have been a lot of roads resurfaced in Caithness in the last year or two and there is more resurfacing planned including one end of Wick to the other and some brand new road at the Ord. I don't know the figures for Caithness but the condition of the roads in the Highland Council region are above average for Scotland (source the Scottish Roads Maintenance Survey 2003-2004) and we have all the advantages of a low volume of traffic.

I drive to Wick and back pretty often, I often listen to Sally Traffic on Radio 2 and think how lucky I am.

roybacer
02-Sep-05, 11:20
temporary surfaces arent good enough,causing excess wear on suspension components,do not care how many times they have to dig up roads temporary is second best and 2nd best is not good enough,wick to thurso they are at least 8 bits that cud easily throw and inexperienced driver of the road.