A Skye councillor has called for measures to ensure rural roads are not overlooked when it comes to funding repairs and maintenance.
John Finlayson has said various communities have contacted him highlighting concerns about the state of disrepair some roads have fallen into.
It is understood Highland Council will pick the roads to be fixed through a system whereby A or B roads get priority over lesser-known routes.
Mr Finlayson said: “From the makeup of the road network on Skye and Raasay, from what I can see 38% of the network is made up of unclassified roads.
“A further 24% is made up of C class roads which means that 62% of our network is either unclassified or class C roads.
“This really concerns me.
“At a recent meeting of the Inverness Area Committee, a suggestion was made that more money should be going to Inverness from the Highland-wide pot as they have double track roads and an increased length of road.
“On Skye, we have the majority of unclassified roads which essentially were originally just tracks that have been upgraded with tar. They were never properly engineered and the vast majority of them are at the end of their natural lives and are deteriorating rapidly.”
Skye has experienced monumental growth in visitor figures in recent years with calls made for better infrastructure to support the influx of explorers to the Misty Isle with the tourism season now covering nine months of the year.
Mr Finlayson has invited officers and members of Highland Council to visit Skye and Raasay to “see first-hand the state of the road network”.
Thurso and Northwest Caithness Councillor Matthew Reiss recognised Mr Finlayson’s concerns and said the issue is shared by residents in the far north.
He said: “Roads is arguably the biggest issue on my doorstep. It is constant the whole time.
“Safety is of the highest priority and must come first.
“If some of the minor roads are in poorer condition that does not give off a good impression to tourists and it is not good for our economy, so we need to consider that here.”
Local allocations for the environment, development and infrastructure committee have not yet been determined with the roads allocation put before Skye councillors for approval last week based on the figures available in the 2019/20 budget allocation.
Highland Council has said that should the budget change then the programme will either be curtailed or increased as it sees appropriate.
