Unst roadworks celebrate first birthday
A COMMUNITY in Unst has been assured by the local council that the main road into their village will be re-opened within the next few weeks after a bridge crossing a wide burn, locally known as the Coutts Mill Burn, had to be completely rebuilt at a cost of £60,000.
Islanders this week took a birthday cake out to the bridge to mark the first anniversary of the closure.
The single track road linking Uyeasound with the main A968 was closed on 16 March last year after the Coutts Mill Brig, spanning a three metre wide burn, was deemed unsafe.
Since then local people have had to use the second road into the village, which they say was unsafe for the amount of traffic due to the lack of adequate passing places. As a result there had been one car crash a several near misses over the last 12 months.
It was initially thought the closure would last just a few months to allow repair work to be carried out.
Cheryl Jamieson, who lives in the village, said: “Considering the new £3 million pier in Uyeasound was built in about a year, it’s shocking that the council can’t build a small bridge in that time.
“What was a small bridge on an unclassified road has been replaced with one twice as wide as it has a footpath on both sides!
“There are no pavements on the road either side of the bridge, indeed there is very little verge, so I can’t see the point in having footpaths on the bridge as they lead nowhere.”
Shetland Islands Council’s roads network and design manager David MacNae said the job at hand had been far more complicated than initially expected as the burn it crosses was a wide one by Shetland standards.
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Therefore putting down one or two culverts would not have sufficed and a concrete precast spanning 3.4 metre had to be designed and specified.
The bridge was completely rebuilt, including a pavement on each side, which, according to Mr MacNae, was now standard. The pavement also gave the new bridge further strength for heavy loads.
He said: “The bridge was literally falling apart. We have apologised to the community council for the long time it has taken. The surfacing is happening now, and work should be completed within the next few weeks, weather depending.”
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