Ballifeary residents object to Riverside Way route and Ballifeary Community Councillor Andrew Smith claims it would be a waste of £1.4 million for Highland Council if it was made permanent without any changes
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Local residents in the Ballifeary area of Inverness have objected strongly and repeatedly about the Riverside Way one-way scheme.
On Thursday members of Highland Council's City of Inverness Area Committee are being urged not to make the temporary measure permanent unless improvements are made.
Andrew Smith, who is also a member of Ballifeary Community Council, said: “The riverside is a favourite leisure walk for local families and tourists alike. It was particularly popular during the Covid lockdown when many families used the Riverside Way as a great way to exercise and enjoy our city.
"We would welcome improvements to the route which will encourage more people to use and appreciate it – so long the scheme is properly thought through."
He said any improvement scheme should follow these basic principles:
• Exclude all motorised traffic except that needing access;
• Traffic needing access should be by the shortest route;
• Traffic speeds should be reduced to the very minimum.
He claimed the council’s proposals fell short of these principles and would involve spending £1.4 million to create a cycle super-highway along the route while still allowing one-way through traffic.
The scheme is being funded from public funds by Sustrans as part of the Inverness Active Travel scheme, whose aim is to encourage people out of their cars onto cycles and on foot.
Mr Smith said there had been an increase in vehicles cutting through Ballifeary instead of following the long one-way diversion around the Bught.
He added: “The whole process has been a disaster with the council refusing to act on the very strong objections which the community council and many individual residents have expressed repeatedly.
"Instead, officials seem to be keen to find any way to spend this money, when they haven’t even come up with a transport strategy for Inverness. Millburn Road carries the scars of an inadequately planned scheme, but they don’t learn from their mistakes.
"How can they possibly justify the consequences of this scheme when they haven’t planned it all out? In the meantime, they are failing to recognise that extra vehicles in the streets where we live means extra risks to people walking and cycling in them, as well as extra pollution and noise.”
