Hagersta Road

[foogsie]

Whats everybodys opinions on the on going saga of the Hagersta Road. I see Jonathan Wills wants to scrap the whole project in favour of a 50mph speed limit.

[Fjool]

Have you got more information about this? I'm clueless.

[foogsie]

It's the stretch of road between the Whiteness school and Kaliness(roughly) and has been going to be upgraded to a decent standard now for approximatly thirty years, but due to objections and local disputes it has so far not happened.

I see that Jonathan Wills is suggesting the whole project be scrapped in favour of a 50mph speed limit.

I wondered what the opinion of the general public was

[Ghostrider]

Any road heading out to the westside that's the same as it was 30 years ago is in dire need of upgrading. Its been a while since I was on the bit in question, but I seem to recall anyone with much sense wouldn't have gone much over 50 on several bits of it anyway, so I'm not sure what Wills thinks he'd achieve. Those who don't have the sense to take it easy are the same ones that would ignore a 50 limit.

[Njugle]

Out of interest: Wills seemed to be proposing that for little more than £50,000 (verification required) the road could be made safer, at 50mph, and have foot and cycle path alongside, as opposed to the £2million required to convert it to a standard 60mph zone, presumably with no specific cycle or foot provision.

[Para Handy]

Any road heading out to the westside that's the same as it was 30 years ago is in dire need of upgrading. Its been a while since I was on the bit in question, but I seem to recall anyone with much sense wouldn't have gone much over 50 on several bits of it anyway, so I'm not sure what Wills thinks he'd achieve. Those who don't have the sense to take it easy are the same ones that would ignore a 50 limit.

 

Out of interest: Wills seemed to be proposing that for little more than £50,000 (verification required) the road could be made safer, at 50mph, and have foot and cycle path alongside, as opposed to the £2million required to convert it to a standard 60mph zone, presumably with no specific cycle or foot provision.

 

This is the same Jonathan Wills. Who thinks it is better to brake up some council departments to make more council departments, who has a 0 to a 100 something point suppository. (Oops I should have posted plan ?) to save the council oil money investments. After all he is the world knowing fanatical expert that the G20 consulted with?. And everything is now so cheap thanks to the credit crunch so you can see why he want’s to invest in unknowing business

At school in math’s.

X= A unknowing factor

Spurt = A wet drip under pressure

 

An X-Spurt I don’t think so. It’s nice to see what someone’s life is worth to some in our community.

And I was under the impression that any bit of road near any school had the speed reduced to 30 mph ect what’s changed. Now when I hear our councilors pontificate I find myself becoming more and more ashamed to be a member of the same spices as them. Its time they all started to listing to the SIC's finance chief Graham Johnston

 

Well pointed out there Ghostrider and Njugle. Have you two ever thought about becoming councilors?

[MJ]

I'm in favour of anything that makes the road safer for pedestrians, and on that stretch of road that means a real footpath. All the cars go through there at 70 anyway, they take no heed of the dog walkers or mothers with buggies. Improving the road it's self is only going to encourage folk to go even faster.

[Carlos]

Out of interest: Wills seemed to be proposing that for little more than £50,000 (verification required) the road could be made safer, at 50mph, and have foot and cycle path alongside, as opposed to the £2million required to convert it to a standard 60mph zone, presumably with no specific cycle or foot provision.

I don't know about the costings, but I know the new road design has a footway/cyclepath a bit away from the road, behind a fence.

 

I can't remember for sure off hand, but I think the ground alongside the existing road isn't very flat for a lot of the distance, so I'm not sure you'd get a new path slotted in there quite so easy (cheap).....

[MuckleJoannie]

On the report on Radio Shetland it said that there wasn't room to put up a crash barrier so I doubt it would need a bit of work to build a footpath.

[Infiltrator]

And I was under the impression that any bit of road near any school had the speed reduced to 30 mph ect what’s changed.

 

I can think of a couple of Schools in Aberdeenshire where they're on the main A class road - but they have temporary limits of 20 mph past the school when the bairns aren't in class - breaks, lunch, hometime, etc.

[JohanofNess]

Be surprised if they do put in a path/cycleway behind a barrier, you'd need to add at least 2.5m to the width of the construction to do it and as carlos says I doubt you'd have the room without making it a fairly expensive job.

[paulb]

As the bit of road is between two bits of 50mph zones. its daft for a small bit of road to have a higher speed. if the road has lasted the last 30 years just fix it and leave it. why spend daft amounts on a bit of road. We have just had a number of miles resufaced and i was very surprised how shallow the tarmac is. I would have hated to have driven on the packed stone roads that they covered.

They have also insisted on restoring the old drain system. The only problem is that it was last done well over 40 years ago and the ditchs they used to feed into have gone. We now have a drain from the road flooding our drive.

[Guest Anonymous]

A couple of points, from my perspective, which may clarify previous posts.

 

The stretch of road past the Whiteness school does indeed have a 20mph speed limit with flashing lights, installed in 2006ish. (BTW, most of the section within the speed limit is wider than the section which is to be improved).

 

Because of the slope of the land on that stretch of road, creating a safe footpath, with safety barrier, would likely mean just about the same amount of excavation as widening the road. Unless the intention is to put such a path clear of the existing road, which might not be a bad idea.

 

Either way, IMHO, it's a bit of road which certainly needs something doing with it. I personally think that widening and straightening it would be the safest option.

[Caeser]

I understand there has been a lot of argee bargee between the landowner and 'one' local infamous objector who just likes to try and get one up him.

 

I think the road would have been built 20 years ago if it were not for the hassle.

[Siffy]

Lets put it this way, If that bit of road had a cycle path or a pedestrian path many kids from Kalliness would be able to WALK/CYCLE the short distance to the football pitch and get a fair bit of exercise doing so, but as it is they have to be taken to the pitch by car.

Also because the bit of road has blind summits/corners, you can get stuck behind someone unsure of the road doing about 20 mph.

I've walked it a few times and its a scarey experience.

But i have to say when you know the road, its a beautiful bit of road to drive along. I'd be sad to see it upgraded, but in the matter of safety its long over due.

I think one of the objections that come from the local residents, is that in upgrading it with a suitable path, would mean that it is well within the limit of walking distance and the primary school kids would loose thier council transport to and from school and the road is extremely exposed to south / south westerly winds.