Slow but sure in Guardbridge

The road at Guardbridge will be closed until April as St Andrews University instals a pipeline between the village and St Andrews to carry water to its campus from the planned Green Energy Centre in the former paper mill.

Motorists driving in to Guardbridge from both Dairsie and St Andrews faced delays at temporary traffic lights on the A91 – about half a mile heading east – while the A914 through Balmullo and on to St Michaels had a constant flow of traffic through the villages.

Fife Council and the university seemed satisfied that things had gone well over the first few days of the diversions.

David J Brown, Service Manager, Network Management, at Fife Council said: “The road diversions around Guardbridge are currently running smoothly. We will continue to monitor the situation and will be flexible in order to try and minimise delays.”

A university spokesman added: “Overall traffic flow has improved throughout the week as drivers became more familiar with diversions and temporary traffic management measures. The phasing of the temporary traffic lights at Guardbridge was a particular issue which appeared to cause longer than expected delays for traffic coming from Cupar and Dundee. We completely understand the frustration of those affected by the roadworks at Guardbridge this week, and we are grateful for the patience, understanding and good grace shown by road users.”

Travellers by public transport didn’t fare quite as well, with bus journeys from Leuchars station to St Andrews taking as much as an hour. Some train commuters were considering catching a train from Edinburgh at 5.30am to be sure of reaching their desks by 9am.

Another train traveller said that changing from train to bus in Cupar was no solution as: “you just end up caught up in the traffic.”