Aberdeen’s Broad Street has started to crumble under the weight of its bus-only traffic.
An Aberdeen City Council road inspector discovered the issue on the busy thoroughfare at the end of last week.
The council has said it is looking for solutions to the problem and has already taken action to avert traffic around the crumbling road.
A barrier was put up on Friday to protect the gully from “further damage by buses”.
Buses reportedly only travel at 5mph in the shared bus gate space, however, pictures show that slabs surrounding the drain have sunken and cracked.
In 2016, councillors voted to close Broad Street to all traffic, except buses and bicycles and after being revamped at a cost of £3.2 million, the city centre road reopened in 2018.
At the time, the project was described as “ambitious” and it was hoped it would help “revitalise and transform” the area.
Concerns have since been raised about pedestrians sharing the space with vehicles, while the lack of kerbs has been a source of concern for the visually impaired.
In December last year, councillors considered banning buses – but this was ruled out at the time.
Barries put up to ‘avoid further damage’
According to an Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman, the local authority is now looking into “solutions”.
She said: “This issue occurred at the end of last week and was reported by one of our road inspectors. The barriers were erected on Friday afternoon.
“It is believed that this was caused by overrunning of the gullies by buses.
“The barriers are in place to avoid further damage by buses. We are currently looking into solutions for this issue.”
The Press and Journal have contacted councillors asking them to comment.
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