Lorries, snow and floods cause traffic chaos

Feb 8 2011 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

TRAFFIC gridlock, accidents, icy and flooded roads – the frequent scenario of travel disruption this winter made a reappearance in Perthshire yesterday morning.

Major and minor roads were affected, especially those around Perth, as winter re-asserted its grip.

Particularly problematic were the M90 Kinross to Perth and A9 Stirling to Perth which, although not closed at any time, were severely affected by snow and ice.

The A9 around Blackford and Auchterarder was particularly treacherous, with at least three cars skidding off the road.

Tayside Police said an accident between a light goods vehicle and a car on the A823 through Gleneagles was weather related.

The LGV which was carrying liquid oxygen was made safe by Tayside Fife and Rescue units. The car driver was given first aid at the scene but it is believed she did not require hospital treatment.

Other incidents included the closure of the A913 between Abernethy and Newburgh yesterday morning because of flooding, and at 6.42am a lorry shed its load of scaffolding poles on the A85 Perth to Crieff Road.

This was not weather related, but it caused the road to be closed for about 20 minutes which resulted in delays.

Motorists also faced long delays when the A912 Dunkeld Road was closed both ways between Bute Drive and the Inveralmond Roundabout, because of an overturned lorry at the railway bridge.

A spokeswoman for Tayside Police said: “We responded to a number of minor non-injury collisions across Perthshire.

“A number of routes in the area were affected by snow and also the accumulation of heavy rainfall. This led to significant delays during rush hour.”

With Perth and Kinross one of the worst snow-affected areas through the morning rush hour, further pressure was piled on the council’s winter maintenance programme.

A council spokesman described the action taken which tried to keep the Big County traffic moving on its roads: “The weather forecast at 7pm on Sunday predicted snow over high ground. In line with the council’s winter maintenance programme, all priority routes in Perth and Kinross were treated with grit that night.

“Priority routes were gritted again at 5am this [Monday] morning, before the snow started to fall. When snow began to fall, all available plant equipment was put out onto the network to begin clearance work.

“Because the snow fell through rush hour, when traffic on the road network was particularly heavy, gritting operations took longer than planned.

“Clearance work on priority routes continued throughout the day to ensure that Perth and Kinross was kept moving.”

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for the region, advising motorists to take care as the snow, rain and sleet continues to fall.

Despite the travel disruption, all schools except Kinloch Rannoch were open, although normal lessons in many schools were disrupted while staff struggled into work.

Stagecoach in Perth reported that all its services were subject to delays and changes to normal routes through the worst of yesterday’s weather disruption.