
PLANNED resurfacing works to Allardice Street and David Street were welcomed at today’s meeting of the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee – while a plea was made for the potholed promenade, which is not scheduled for repair.
Aberdeenshire’s infrastructure includes some 3,500 miles of carriageways, 995 miles of footways, 1566 bridges and 44,600 streetlights.
The resulting maintenance costs are large: The Shire’s revenue budget for 2019 – 20 includes a figure of over £12 million for road maintenance with a further £4.5 for winter maintenance. And the capital budget adds almost another £12 million for resurfacing and reconstruction.
Ewan Smith and Ross Anderson of the Roads department presented a detailed breakdown of the works planned in the Kincardine and Mearns Area for the forthcoming year, which Mr Smith said had required a lot of analysis of competing schemes.
He said surface dressing was unpopular with drivers, but, “One of the most effective techniques for the maintenance of the life of a road.”
He later added surface dressing works would be undertaken in June to July, when the weather is reliable.
In Stonehaven, four areas are to be attended to: Slug Road – Evan Street junction; Allardice Street – traffic lights to David Street; Allardice Street – Evan Street junction; and David Street to Turner’s Court junction.
All of these areas are to have HRA inlay – removal of existing surface and inlay using Hot Rolled Asphalt (HRA) material – at a total cost of some £186,900.
Councillor Wendy Agnew said she was delighted to see these roads were to be done.
Councillor Sarah Dickinson raised the condition of the road at the beach front.
She said, “A low speed area can be a high visibility area. At the beach promenade, the quality of the road is very poor.
“Certainly there is never going to be a problem with speed. There is a reputation issue there, and that is an issue in a town like Stonehaven that has a lot of visitors.