The Poor State of Caithness Roads

[richardj]

I am constantly annoyed / dismayed at the state of the roads around Caithness, they are full of potholes and I am continuingly hitting potholes when I am driving between Thurso and Wick, other roads may be as bad. The damage caused to my old car and to the car tyres is worrying as it may lead to a future accident. This now seems to be a National problem throughout Britain according to the RAC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35322313

Another serious issue in Wick is the lack of clear road markings at certain junctions, the one that I think of as the most dangerous is the road (or lack of clear road markings) at the Tesco entrance/exit, especially in wet weather when the road marking at the exit from Tesco can hardly be seen. This is a problem that will lead to a serious accident, it is just waiting to happen, especially with visitors to the area. What I mean is when you drive down the short slope to the junction you cannot clearly see where you should stop to give way to oncoming traffic.

As we pay around 75% of our car fuel bill in tax each time we fill up surely we should not have roads that are worse than I have seen elsewhere around the World. We have roads like a banana republic.
Highland Council may not be the ones that should be blamed for this as the Council have not been able to increase Rates since 2007 due to the SNP policy of forcing Councils to not increase Rates. Now while I have appreciated this capping of Rates in the past, if this has led to the poor state of our Roads then I for one think it is time the Council were given more money to get them fixed as people's lives are risk due to the mess they are in at the moment.

[Bogbrush]

I have lived in banana republics with vastly better roads than ours.

If you visit Google Streetview, you can now compare the most recent photographs (May/June 2015) with the previous set. When my missus had her car written off outside Tesco in Thurso towards the end of last year, I did my Google comparison and also took my own photos of the road markings. The deterioration was quite breathtaking, even more so for the fact that this is on the A9.

[Rheghead]

I don't think we are any different to any other local authority. That said, Scotland has 50% more roads per population than the rest of the UK so it is more of a struggle to pay for the repairs.

Has anyone heard of roads that generate electricity and generate heat to keep the snow off? No seriously, there are options like this out there. Perhaps it is too wacky of an idea for our horse blinkered leaders?

http://www.solarroadways.com/

[2little2late]

Has anyone heard of roads that generate electricity and generate heat to keep the snow off? No seriously, there are options like this out there. Perhaps it is too wacky of an idea for our horse blinkered leaders?

http://www.solarroadways.com/

You'll be telling us there are self repairing roads next.

[Rheghead]

You'll be telling us there are self repairing roads next.

No but they are a lot more resilient than the current build materials.

[Alrock]

No but they are a lot more resilient than the current build materials.

Until the Gas Board come along & try to dig it up...

....Hmmm, Interesting video...

[Niall Fernie]

http://www.sciencealert.com/solar-ro...-than-expected

[Rheghead]

Until the Gas Board come along & try to dig it up...

....Hmmm, Interesting video...

So a guy on an armchair armed with a microphone hates the idea. If I really tried, I could find a negative video on all the best ideas that have the potential to change the world for the better. What is your point?

[Alrock]

So a guy on an armchair armed with a microphone hates the idea. If I really tried, I could find a negative video on all the best ideas that have the potential to change the world for the better. What is your point?

Very true & I do hope he's wrong, guess only time will tell.

[Niall Fernie]

Just out of interest has anyone used the form on the HC website to report road faults:

http://www.highland.gov.uk/info/2000...96/road_faults

Any joy?

[pat]

There is also a place to report pavements, missing drain covers etc, blocked drains - used this to report any road/pavement faults.

www.fixmystreet.com/reports/Highland

[richardj]

Pat thanks for sharing that interesting site https://www.fixmystreet.com/

[Kenn]

Would be a big help if the roads were not patched, first frost that comes along it blows out.
The heavy quarry lorries using minor roads delivering hard core during the upgrade of The Dounreay /Mybster power line is also tearing the surface off.
This could be my last post as having a small car I might disappear into such a hole never to be seen again!

(You can stop cheering now!)

[Geo]

I nearly got lost down a big pothole on the Camster Cairns road this evening. It is breaking up badly.