Local councillor suggests RE-ROUTING the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course.

The chairman of one of the Isle of Man’s parishes has suggested that the TT course could be changed to cut disruption on the islands roads.

Andrew Jessop, the chairman of Braddan Commissioners (which is essentially the local council for the Parish of Braddan) said: “I have been in discussions with the Department of Infrastructure with suggestions made to me that the route of the TT course should be changed. That would require a certain amount of infrastructure work as well.”

Jessop’s comments come as a result of residents of the parish voicing their frustrations about the current single-track access road – which allows residents and spectators alike to get from the inside to the outside of the 37.73 mile Mountain Course while the racing’s on.

Jessop said commuters were ’annoyed and frustrated’ with congestion along the TT access road. He added: ’In the last couple of days I’ve had people say to me that they are going to be spending at least an hour stuck in traffic trying to get through the access road. That’s an hour of their life they’ll never get back again. There is a high level of frustration and annoyance about it.’

In addition to his role as the chairman of Braddan Commissioners, Jessop is also a member of the TT Riders Associaton – a charity which raises money and provides financial assistance for injured riders and their families. So it’s not like he’s against the racing – he’s just listening to locals who’ve raised concerns about the traffic.

According to Isle of Man Today, Braddan Commissioners have held talks with the department over the prospect of a new access road route and want a solution soon. Jessop said he would like to see a carriageway that would allow two vehicles (including lorries or buses) to pass each other. The Department of Infrastructure has promised to replace the current route with a two-way carriageway by 2022, but Jessop said: ’I think that’s remarkably quick for the DoI.’

At this stage, that’s all we know. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops over the next couple of years – but we think it’s pretty unlikely there’s going to be any major changes to the iconic Mountain Course. It’s been the same since 1911. It’s a part of racing history.