SCOTLAND'S most notorious road is to shut down overnight for the third successive day this evening as a "safety precaution" due to another forecast of heavy rain.

It will be the sixth time in less than three weeks that the landslip-prone A83 at the Rest and be Thankful will have been shut - despite £8.5m in temporary fixes involving catch pits over the last five years alone. They are designed to ‘capture’ debris material from a landslip and prevent it from reaching the road.

It comes after campaigners launched a 'parliamentary petition' demanding that concerns over a risk to life on Scotland's most notorious road be treated as an emergency due to the "economic and environmental impacts and the high risk of 100,000 tonnes of debris ready to fall on the road".

More than 2000 have so far signed it.

Bear Scotland, the road maintenance firm contracted by the Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency said motorist will be diverted to the official single track diversion route for the third night running from 8pm on Monday. Cars will be directed to the Old Military Road (OMR) which runs through the centre of Glen Croe where a convoy system has been set up.

It comes after the A83 re-opened at 8.40am on Monday under a convoy control after it was shut overnight due to rain.

Bear said that a further closure would take place at 8pm because of "heavy and persistent rainfall" expected to commence overnight and continuing throughout Tuesday.

Assessments of the weather and hillside conditions will take place on Tuesday morning to determine if it is safe to re-open the A83 during daylight hours under convoy.

Bear warned that wet weather is expected throughout the week and said teams will be "closely monitoring" conditions in the area as well as observing the hillside "to inform operational decision making for the A83 and OMR, and to ensure road users are kept safe".

Eddie Ross, Bear's north west representative, said: “We reopened the A83 following an early morning assessment of the hillside and water channels at the Rest, along with a review of the weather forecast.

The Herald:

“With the heavy periods of rain experienced in recent days, hillside saturation is becoming a greater factor in our decision making and with further heavy rain expected overnight and throughout Tuesday, we’ve made the decision to switch traffic to the OMR from 8pm this evening.

“Looking ahead, we’re expecting further persistent rain to move through the area during the remainder of the week, and our teams will remain on high alert to respond to any changes at the Rest.

“Given the forecast for the coming days, the need for further use of the Old Military Road is likely to be required, but we will do everything we can to minimise journey time delay and will look to maintain traffic on the A83 for as long as it is safe to do so.

“As ever we thank the local community and all road users for their continued patience while we continue with our work at the Rest.”

Campaigners are urging the transport minister Graeme Dey and the Scottish Government to act swiftly to provide a permanent solution for the key Highlands artery.

But Transport Scotland have confirmed that even a temporary short-term re-routing proposal involving upgrading nearby single track routes is not expected to be finalised till the autumn of next year.

Ministers have previously stated that any permanent solution could take ten years to deliver.

Representatives of the Rest and Be Thankful Campaign - backed by 1500 businesses - are disgusted by the latest disruptions coming amidst continuing criticism over money "wasted" over £8.5m of failed temporary fixes over the last five years.

Transport minister Graeme Dey has previously stated that improving the resilience of the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful "is one of our top priorities" and that they were continuing to work on a permanent long term solution to the issue.

But there is concern that ministers have "wasted" over £80m over a failed solutions as part of vital maintenance and resilience on the road since 2007.

The A83 was closed for several days in 2014 following a 2,000 tonne landslip, then again in 2016 after a huge boulder threatened the safety of traffic. A controlled explosion had to be carried out on the 150-tonne rock.

In October 2018, the road was shut for nine days after about 2,500 tonnes of landslide debris reached catch-fences above the carriageway.

Construction of the last catch-pit on the road was completed in August having taken over twice as long to install as promised.

A new catch pit planned next to the trunk road, will be located at the foot of the steep sided channel formed by the major landslides in August and September last year.

Moves over the latest measures to prevent road closures came after a major landslip around 650 feet above the carriageway shut the road in August, last year.

Engineers said thousands of tonnes of debris including car-sized boulders slid onto the road after 100mm of rain hit the Argyll hills.

One of the landslip mitigation catch-pits, built to prevent landslip material reaching the road, caught around 2,000 tonnes - but it did not stop thousands more tonnes hitting the road.

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The slip ushered in a series of road closures for the important Highlands route which by January had meant it was open for barely three weeks in the space of five months.

In February the A83 and the official single track diversion route, the Old Military Road which runs through the centre of Glen Croe was shut after hundreds of tons of debris fell in another landslip.

That is despite £1m being spent on 175-metre long, 6.6 metre high barrier having been built next to the OMR to stop debris from a potential landslip.

A new A83 route which could include a tunnel close to the A83 has been identified as the Scottish Government's favoured permanent solution - but it is a long-term solution which could take seven to ten years to complete after being approved at a cost of up to £900m.

There are five options on the table for the new Glen Croe route, some of which include tunnels up to 1.8 miles long.

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “The resilience of the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful is one of our top priorities. Local residents and road users can be assured that the situation is being treated with the seriousness and urgency it deserves, with measures to maintain connectivity on a short, medium and long term basis all being pursued.

“Identifying the preferred route corridor for a resilient long term solution earlier this year, was a major step forward for this vital work and we are looking at alternative options within that online corridor.

“We appreciate the timescale to develop an alternative route as a long-term solution is frustrating for the local community, but we will look to bring forward the programme where we can. This is a huge and technically challenging project, so it’s vital that we follow due process and undertake a thorough assessment of all the options and their potential impacts to ensure we bring forward a deliverable solution.

 

“As part of our plans, we are also developing a medium term solution to provide resilience while the long term solution is developed. This includes examining options in and around the forestry track on land owned by Scottish Ministers along with potential upgrades of the Old Military Road local diversion. Depending on the consents required those proposals could be finalised by Autumn 2022.”