COLIN CAMPBELL: Inverness Raigmore Hospital has pitiful farce of £850,000 road pole chaos
Fiona Hyslop MSP cast a long, broad shadow with her presence at the opening of the "Raigmore bus gate", a traffic barrier regulating bus travel on a stretch of roadway leading to Raigmore Hospital.
She turned up as the SNP government's transport minister. With Ms Hyslop there to give the innovation her blessing it was likely to be beset by problems.
Ranging from the provision of ferries to upgrading the the A9, the SNP record on transport isn't great. And there was no reason why the transport minister couldn't jinx the Raigmore bus gate as well.
This took place a year ago. Ms Hyslop was pictured beaming in the centre of a small group of people. Having recently seen the picture for the first time I had to wonder why she was there in the first place. This feat of engineering involved the construction of a pole across a road, not the completion of a stretch of dualled motorway.
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But now the pole barrier has become problematic. And the Courier summarised an extraordinary saga.
The implementation of the Raigmore Bus Gate route was delayed for years amid ongoing controversy. A barrier system was finally installed to prevent the link from being used as a rat-run through the hospital grounds. The overall cost was £850,000. And now the barrier - or pole - hasn't been working properly.
In terms of introducing a traffic adjustment, it doesn't get any more woeful than that.
Recently I started taking the bus which runs past my home to Raigmore Hospital. This is convenient but risky. Unlike those strange folk who miss hospital appointments because of carelessness - or "forgetfulness" - I'd rather be operated on with a rusty bread knife than turn up late at Raigmore. The bus service is a lot better than it once was but it's still not wholly reliable. To be absolutely certain of being at Raigmore at the allotted time, it's better to leave home well before your appointment.
The first time I made the journey the bus came to a halt for no apparent reason a few hundred yards from Raigmore, with the hospital in sight. The driver then began reversing very slowly, then moved forward very slowly as he shunted the vehicle about. I did not know then but know now that we had reached the Raigmore bus gate - or pole - which was not performing properly to allow the bus journey to continue. This time the problem was resolved quite quickly, but it's not always been like that. Delays in getting to the hospital would be frustrating and infuriating.
And it seems there are no guarantees as to when this pitiful farce of a problem will flare up again.
I don't know if Fiona Hyslop is personally to blame for this malfunctioning road barrier, but why not blame her? If she was prepared to travel up from Edinburgh to take the credit for its installation, she should incur the backlash when the nuts and bolts fail to work properly.
I used to think there were limits to how badly the SNP Government could mess up the nation's transport system. But the next time I'm in a hurry to get to Raigmore hospital and Ms Hyslop's £850,000 road pole refuses to work, and the bus has to go in the opposite direction from the one intended, in my panic and frustration I may well conclude that when it comes to those limits, there really are none.
