The A814 is the narrow, twisting little road running along the east side of Loch Long between Arrochar and Helensburgh, often little more than a single tracker.
At the entry to it from Arrochar, there used to be a sign warning of its unsuitability for HGVs. That disappeared some time ago and Argyll and Bute Council promised its replacement. This has not happened and HGVs continue to use the road on a daily basis.
A few days ago, the absence of this warning resulted in Breedon Aggregates sending down the A814 a giant HGV, where, had the warning been there, could have seen its load distributed between smaller vehicles – obviously developments on and near this road will occasionally make HGV traffic inevitable.
Throughout the passage on the A814, no other vehicle could have passed this superlong mega-tonner either from behind or in convergence. As it happened a more normal HGV, one of Palmer and Harvey’s, a UK wholesale cash and carry company, seen using the road recently, was also on the road, coming the other way. It had to reverse a substantial distance to allow the Breedon truck to progress.
It is not known whether the use of the road by either particular vehicle was unavoidable but this is clearly not a sustainable situation.
An emergency on the A82 south of Tarbet or on the A83 between Tarbet and Arrochar , necessitating the use of the A814 by emergency vehicles and as a diversion route? Afew HGVs already on this road, joined by more from both directions in an emergency diversion, would create a parallel emergency of a different kind, instead of easing the primary one.
In addition to the replacement of the warning signage for HGVs at all necessary points of access to this road, there are two simple solutions to help to preventing a situation like that of the other day happening again:
- Make access for all HGVs and coaches one way only, ensuring that two such vehicles cannot converge.
- Change the designation of this road to the far more appropriate B road status. This would signal to HGV route planners that, if avoidable this is not the road to take.
This sort of current traffic is aggravating a parallel situation on the section of the A814 into Arrochar from the junction of the A814 with the unclassified road from the A82 through Glen Douglas.
The A814 was largely resurfaced last year but this final section, already damaged, was omitted. It suffers from multiple pot holes and uneven road surfaces, leading to potential damage to vehicles using it.
The A814 as a whole, incomprehensibly, has the normal maximum speed limit of 60 mph – with very few white lines and no cats eyes. Traffic regularly runs to the maximum speed on this road which, with its narrow and constantly twisting nature – often with steep drops to the shore below on the north bound loch side.
In every way, the A814 is a serious accident waiting to happen – and with immediate access difficulties for emergency vehicles.Intelligent traffic management and responsible road maintenance can together make the use of this road very much safer for its transiting and residential users.
