A NOTORIOUS landslide blackspot in Argyll is to receive a further £6.6 million investment to reduce the likelihood of future disruption on the route.
The additional funding for Rest and Be Thankful, on top of an existing investment of £3m committed during the current financial year, will bring the total cost of landslide mitigation works at A83 to £13.5m.
It comes weeks after the route was closed for two days while engineers destroyed a massive 150-tonne boulder which had come loose during storms and threatened to plunge from the verge onto the carriageway below.
The route had also been blocked at the end of December when Storm Frank blew hundreds of tonnes of debris onto the carriageway.
At a meeting of the A83 Task Force in Arrochar today [Mon], Transport Minister Derek Mackay announced a series of additional measures to safeguard the route.
It includes widening the Old Military Road, which is typically used to divert traffic when the Rest and Be Thankful is blocked, further enhancements to the debris netting which has prevented 2,300 tonnes of debris reaching the road since its introduction, and improvements at various points along the route.
Transport Minister, Derek Mackay said: “More than £50 million has been invested in the A83 since 2007 underlining the Scottish Government’s commitment to keeping Argyll and Bute open for business.
“The most recent landslides have shown that the mitigation measures introduced, including netting, catch-pits and culverts, are doing their job with thousands of tonnes of debris being caught on various occasions.
“The elements have thrown some horrendous conditions our way, especially at the end of last year with the wettest December on record. We are already learning lessons from the events that occurred as a result of the exceptional rainfall and the additional investment being outlined today will help strengthen our response further.
“We are listening to the concerns of the local community and taking action to further enhance the Old Military Road. We will continue to work with all interested parties as we move forward with the on-going improvements on the A83.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel