Over the sea to Skye
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• Tenders have been invited for the design of a bridge to span Poole Harbour in Dorset. The top three designs for the 1.5 mile bridge will win a £100,000 prize, with the top design getting the contract. Around 88,000 lorries a year travel through the port. The bridge will be accompanied by a £53 million link road between the A31 and Poole. Neither roadway will be tolled.
by Lee Kimber 111 Outraged hauliers in Skye are considering boycotting the almost finished Skye Bridge if they can negotiate comparable charges with the remaining ferry route to the island.
Skye's two hauliers— Donnie MacLeod and Skye Transport, run by John MacKinnon—are furious over reports that the Skye Bridge Company will charge £25 for each lorry crossing—the same as Caledonian MacBrayne's Kyle of Lochalsh ferry crossing.
MacLeod is understood to be using CalMac's more expensive Mallaig to Armadale service because it is convenient for his frequent runs to Glasgow. Now MacKinnon is thinking of using it, even though the bridge route is shorter for the half of his runs that go to Inverness and the north. "I would be quite prepared to give my business to another ferry company but not to the bridge," he says.
He believes the more southerly Mallaig route could be cost-effective for him if he can negotiate a lower rate with CalMac for Glasgow runs. "It's something for the future, though," he says.
Hopes for an alternative ferry service to the north of the island were dashed when it transpired that the ferry will carry only six cars.