Road Closed

This is the A723 running through the centre of Strathaven. Yesterday the road closed for two weeks, my newsagent told me his takings were down 50%.

The economic cost is enormous, then there’s the environmental cost with sand lorries doing 3-point turns on narrow lanes and artic trailers jamming up roads built for horse and cart traffic.

Why two weeks to lay a pipe, an industrious contractor could do it in two days!

It is too easy to close roads without thought to the cost and disruption to people’s lives and consideration of alternative solutions.