A83 Task Force meeting in two weeks

Transport Minister Keith Brown told MSPs during General Questions in the Scottish Parliament that the meeting was being brought forward to allow the address concerns from the community.

He said that action is being taken to mitigate the impact of the incidents:

“The Scottish Government, working closely with our stakeholder partners, has already invested nearly £7.5 million on the A83 around the Rest and be Thankful. This is a clear sign of our intent to find solutions to keep the A83 open and operational. The Old Military Road diversion is currently operational and is a clear example of our efforts.

“The A83 Route Study has recommended actions to address landslide hazards at other locations, in particular Glen Kinglas, Cairndow and Loch Shira, to give a comparable level of landslide protection to that proposed at the Rest and Be Thankful. We have progressed investigations at all three sites and the output of this will be a report recommending areas within each site which are considered high risk, together with potential mitigation options.

“Following this morning’s closure, I have asked members of the A83 Taskforce to agree to bring forward our next meeting to take place in less than a fortnight.”

Details of the mitigation work being carried out on the Rest and Be Thankful is available at http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/maintenance/landslides/A83-rest-and-be-thankful