Rest and be Thankful set to reopen on Thursday afternoon

The Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll is expected to reopen on Thursday afternoon after being closed for nine days.

Heavy rain and strong winds caused a series of landslips last week which forced the closure of both the A83 and the Old Military Road.

A final decision will be made on Thursday morning and the route will be under temporary traffic light control.

The Old Military Road reopened on Monday but closed at 18:00.

It was then reopened on Tuesday morning and will remain so after experts deemed the condition of the hillside safe to run during hours of darkness.

BEAR Scotland said good weather conditions have allowed teams to reinstate debris fences, install additional drainage measures and make safe a 20-tonne boulder. It was as identified on the hillside following further landslips last week.

A full safety assessment will be carried out, after the last phase of mitigation works, before the final decision is taken.

Temporary traffic lights will remain in place on the A83 carriageway to ensure teams carrying out the remaining work are kept safe.

Eddie Ross, BEAR Scotland's north west representative said: "Teams have made great progress on site with works to reinstate the debris fences damaged by last week's landslips and improvements to the drainage measures almost complete.

"We're working to carry out a full safety review in the late morning tomorrow and once the remaining sections of repair work is completed we hope to be in a position to reopen the A83 under temporary traffic lights at some point tomorrow afternoon.

"The safety of road users remains of paramount importance, and we need to ensure that all measures are completed before we are confident it is safe to reopen the A83. This will involve a final inspection with Police Scotland."

Mr Ross said the Old Military Road will continue to remain in operation overnight and throughout the day on Thursday until the A83 reopens.

He added: "We thank the local community and road users for their patience while we complete operations at the Rest and Be Thankful, and assure them we're doing everything possible to reopen the road as soon as it is safe to do so. "

The Rest and Be Thankful has been closed since Tuesday 9 October, when around 2,500 tonnes of material came down the slope above the A83 during heavy rain.

The following day a helicopter was used to carry out an aerial assessment of the hillside and three large boulders were identified as a potential safety risk.

Work was carried out to make them safe but last Friday Storm Callum brought heavy rain to the area.

The conditions caused fresh landslips and a further 500 tonnes of debris reached the catch fences above the carriageway.

BEAR Scotland said clear-up and repair work was carried out over the weekend, while motorists were diverted via the A85 at Dalmally.