Next Stage of Landslip Mitigation Measures at A83 Rest and Be Thankful Set to Begin in September

• Next phase expected to take up to five months to complete

The next stage of landslip mitigation measures at the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful is set to begin in September to help improve landslip resilience on the route.

The £1.1M catch pit project will see the construction of a further catch pit next to the carriageway, which will be located immediately adjacent to the three catch pits on the A83 which were completed in July 2019.

The project is expected to begin at the start of September and take up to five months to complete.  To keep all road users as well as roadworkers safe, temporary traffic lights will be in place continuously throughout the project.  Teams are planning to carry out 24-hour working during some sections of the scheme in order to complete the project as quickly as possible.

The catch pits are designed to ‘catch’ any debris material from a landslip and prevent it from reaching the road.

Once complete the new catch pit will be 120m long, around 12m wide and capable of holding around 4,500 tonnes of debris material from a potential landslip.

Teams are expecting to begin work in September in full compliance of any safety restrictions in relation to Covid-19.

Eddie Ross, BEAR Scotland’s North West Representative said: “We’re pleased that we can progress with the next phase of landslip resilience on the A83 and begin work on the £1.1M catch-pit project at the Rest and Be Thankful.

“We’re gearing up to begin work on site in September and we’re working closely with our specialist contractor to ensure the project can progress safely.  We’re paying close attention to Government advice in relation to Coronavirus and we’ll ensure that full safety restrictions, risk assessments and strict physical distancing protocols are adopted before any work can take place.

“Temporary traffic lights will be in place on the A83 as they were during the previous catch-pit construction, and our teams will carry out 24-hour working during some sections of the scheme to complete the work as quickly as possible.

“We’ll continue to work with Transport Scotland to improve resilience of the A83 and do all we can to help ensure Argyll remains open for business.”

Real time journey information is available from Traffic Scotland on www.trafficscotland.org, twitter at @trafficscotland or the new mobile site my.trafficscotland.org.