Route north will impact on Forres
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AN engineer and a farmer both claim the chosen route for the dualled A96 is the wrong one for Forres.
A J Engineering managing director Alan James and Colin Massey from Milton of Grange farm warn that the embankment will be 30ft high and 120ft wide in parts.
A minimum 170,000 lorry trips will be required during construction.
And Grantown Road, they say, will become congested as a result of the north option being chosen rather than south of the town.
Mr James said: “The north route is the most expensive option and not the best value for money.
“Also, many residents who thought they were part of the consultative process could not fully understand what they were looking at and the implications for Forres.
“If they could see the options in 3D model form, with water courses, roads, railways, bridges houses etc, then they would be better-informed of the long-term route visibility implications.
“They would see the A940 connectivity of the south route which, if built with a roundabout or access would give them the option of avoiding the town to get onto the bypass.”
Mr James and Mr Massey said that the north route will have to cross the railway track at two local points. Also, because ScotRail may want to have the future option of electrifying the lines, bridges will need to be 10 metres/30ft above the ground with a 68 metre base. Forty 20-ton lorries of material will be needed for every metre of the 10 metre elevated route so approximately 3.5-million tonnes will need to be transported by 170,000 return lorry journeys.
The proposed new road at Fochabers may provide some of this material. This will cause significant disruption to local people and farms as soft material will have to be dug out and taken away then new material tipped to fill the hole then form the embankments.
Around 1500 people viewed the preferred option for the A96 Dualling Hardmuir to Fochabers scheme last December.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The issues were considered as part of the design and assessment work to identify a preferred option. Comments received will be taken into account during the assessment of the preferred option, which will include mitigation measures to reduce impacts on the environment. The preferred option will provide better transport connections in Moray and to the wider transport network, bring relief to communities currently affected by through traffic and save over 20 minutes for road users travelling between Hardmuir and Fochabers.”
Mr James disputes a number of points made in the conclusion of Transport Scotland’s assessment.
He said: “Construction of the north route will cost significantly more because of the poor ground and the necessity for high embankments with end-to-end crash barriers.”
He also believes that the
north route would have the greatest impact on the environment due to there being very visible
high embankment on a flat flood plain. During and after construction, he said, there would be
pollution and increased noise issues.
“Measures to restrict the visibility and noise will also increase the visibility of the road. The north route is also adjacent and very visible to the Findhorn Bay Nature Reserve,” he added.
“Also the north route crosses the Findhorn river flood plain and will interfere with the present flood remediation works.”
Transport Scotland is progressing the next stage of the design process. It is expected that this will take around two years to complete, culminating in the publication of draft orders and Environmental Impact Assessment Report for formal comment.
Contact Transport Scotland, Buchanan House, 58 Port Dundas Road, Glasgow, G4 0HF on 0141 272 7100 or at info@transport.gov.scot with your views.
