The A70 Lang Whang is shutting for 12 weeks, which means every unfamiliar driver heading to Edinburgh is about to discover Harburn village’s little secret: a railway bridge that’s been trying to murder motorists for years.
I’m not exaggerating. This humpback bridge comes with a 90-degree turn, and it’s already vaulted at least one delivery van clean over the crash barrier into a field. The villagers have got used to pulling drivers out of ditches.
Now, with the main road closed for resurfacing, sat-nav systems are going to funnel thousands of vehicles through the B7008. Most of them won’t know what’s coming until they’re airborne.
Signs Aren’t Enough
Transport Scotland’s installed new safety signs, which is their standard response to everything. As if a yellow triangle is going to stop a HGV driver doing 40mph from launching himself into the next parish.
Community councillor Allan McLaughlan raised concerns, and Road Network Manager Kenneth Brown promised resurfacing and realignment for summer. That’s lovely, except the diversion starts now and summer is months away.
The crash barrier’s been broken twice already. It still hasn’t been repaired. That tells you everything about how seriously they’re taking this.
Predictable Disaster
Here’s what’s going to happen: someone unfamiliar with the road will come over that bridge too fast, lose control on the bend, and end up in hospital or worse. Then there’ll be an investigation, some hand-wringing, and promises to do better.
Or they could close the B7008 to through traffic during the diversion and force everyone onto a safer route. But that would require Transport Scotland to admit their contingency plan is rubbish, and we can’t have that.
Twelve weeks is a long time for a community to hold its breath every time a lorry comes through. I hope Harburn’s got its first aid certificates up to date, because they’re going to need them.