Travel bosses hope to reopen landslide-hit A83 Rest and Be Thankful

Landslide: The A83 Rest and Be Thankful remains closed.Traffic Scotland

Travel bosses are hoping to reopen the landslide-hit A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful on Friday evening.

Clear-up operations at the route in Argyll continued on Friday after it was blocked by 1000 tonnes of debris that fell on Wednesday afternoon.

During a visit to the site of the latest landslip near Inverary, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure Alex Neil said a "taskforce" would be established to look at ways to improve the stretch of road.

The Scottish Government said it expects Scotland Transerv engineers to manage to open part of the A83 after the landslide.

Mr Neil said: "We are developing measures to make the main route safer and less exposed to landslides in future, and today I can confirm that a taskforce will be set up immediately to oversee progress. The taskforce, which will include representatives from all of the key players involved and be chaired by the Transport Minister, will meet on August 15.

"Having met and spoken to local business owners, community representatives and councillors today, I fully appreciate their frustration at the ongoing disruption to the local economy, especially at such an important time of the tourist season.

"We have already allocated significant funding to tackle the problem and, weather permitting, if we can finalise a deal with private landowners, work will get underway on the emergency route in the coming weeks. And at around the same time, we will extend the length of debris flow netting on the hillside, which will also result in a lifting of the current traffic restrictions."

Motorists are being diverted on a 58-mile detour via Tyndrum and Dalmally while the road remains closed.

The incident marks the fifth time the road at Rest and Be Thankful has been closed because of landslides in the past five years.

In June, the road was closed when heavy rain brought a high risk of a landslip. It was also shut in February and a landslide last December saw the route blocked for a week.

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