SCOTLAND'S most notorious road has shut again for safety reasons because of the threat of landslips.
The A83 at the Rest and be Thankful was shut at midnight due to what engineers say is a forecast for increased heavy rainfall.
When the road is shut, motorists are sent onto a single track route, the Old Military Road (OMR), which runs through the centre of Glen Croe and acts as a diversion using a convoy system.
Earlier this month the road was out of action for over seven days due to the continuing problems with the road.
Campaigners have been long called for a full public inquiry to determine why road is still not fixed.
Moves over installing a series of catch-pits aimed at preventing road closures came after a landslip around 650 feet above the carriageway shut the road in August, 2020.
Engineers said thousands of tonnes of debris including car-sized boulders slid onto the road after 100mm of rain hit the Argyll hills.
The slip ushered in a series of road closures for the important Highlands route which by January, 2021 had meant it was open for barely three weeks in the space of five months.
Flashback to previous landslip
There has been criticism over money "wasted" over what is considered to be failed temporary fixes.
Catch pits are designed to ‘capture’ debris material from a landslip and prevent it from reaching the road.
Two years ago officials said that it may take ten years for a permanent solution to stop landslides on the iconic Scots road.
Scottish Government-appointed maintenance firm Bear Scotland confirmed that the diversion off the A83 was to be in place throughout Wednesday "due to the continuing high levels of rainfall, increased hillside saturation conditions and brown water observed by the Bear team in a channel to the south end of the site".
A Bear Scotland spokesman said: "The BEAR Scotland team continues to have a presence on site and will be carrying out a detailed inspection of hillside conditions throughout the day. An update will be issued later today to provide details of further traffic management arrangements."
At just after 2pm, Bear Scotland said that A83 had re-opened but under convoy control which would continued throughout the night.
"The decision was made following Bear Scotland’s ongoing inspection of hillside conditions this morning and an improving forecast," said a spokesman.
The A83 at the Rest has been operating under a traffic lights system after a series of landslips over a number of years that have put the important Highlands artery out of action for weeks at a time.
Argyll and Bute Council want a new replacement route within the life of the current Scottish Parliament.
In August, the Scottish Government announced a £25 million investment for design and development work for the route through Glen Croe. The council welcomed the funding announcement and is now seeking a commitment that work will start imminently.
The final award was given by the Scottish Government transport agency to a joint venture featuring Quebec-based consultants WSP and engineering and project management consultants Atkins, which is a subsidary of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin while a decision over a preferred solution is not due till next Spring.
The contract was finalised, a year and three months after the Scottish Government's transport agency set a deadline for the management services to support the delivery of a new length of trunk road at the Rest and be Thankful.
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