Progress being made on long-awaited road upgrade in Yell

PROGRESS is being made the new road to Cullivoe in Yell.

An update to Yell Community Council from Jonathan Duncan from Shetland Islands Council’s (SIC) roads department said bulk earthworks are progressing to plan.

Almost all new carriageway footprint has now been stripped between Gutcher and Cullivoe, he said, apart from one section where three further controlled blasts are scheduled.

Duncan said most of the archaeological excavations are now complete, with an archaeological watching brief set to continue while the remaining soils are excavated.

He added that after the clocks went back at the weekend, the site working hours have changed to 7.30am to 6pm.

“The reduced hours help keep staff safe as daylight hours shorten. The programme was prepared with these reduced hours in mind, and works are still expected to continue to progress well,” Duncan said.

Construction work on the new, two-lane alignment got underway in April. Local company CW Johnson Plant Ltd was awarded the civil work contract.

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The long-awaited project received the final go-ahead from councillors last year, coming with an estimated cost of £13.3 million.

However around £2.4 million of this covers asphalt surfacing which will be carried out in-house by the the council’s roads team, which comes from existing budgets.

The existing road, which is deteriorating in condition, is an important link to the Cullivoe pier, which is used by the aquaculture and fishing industries.

A previous safety check had identified a number of concerns including the “substandard width of the road, the very poor condition of the carriageway and the lack of safety barriers at locations where national guidance deems them necessary”.