SCOTLAND'S most notorious road is to shut yet again for two nights - for a new wave of maintenance works.
It comes after a series of closures to the landslip-prone A83 at the Res and be Thankful due to concerns about landslips over the last two months due to 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.
The road has suffered a series of closures since October 3 as engineers as a result of forecasts of heavy rainfall. It was out of action initially for seven days due to the continuing problems with the road.
Now Bear Scotland, the road maintenance firm contracted by the Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency, has said that the road will be out of action from between 4pm till 8am on November 15 and 16 for BT to carry out "essential maintenance works to their roadside infrastructure".
Bear said it will also allow repairs to BT access chambers "within the live carriageway".
A Bear Scotland spokesman said: "Our team continues to have a presence on site and a further update will be issued if any change is required to the above traffic management arrangement."
Campaigners have been long called for a full public inquiry to determine why road is still not fixed.
One local campaigner said in response to the latest disruption: "It is has become beyond farcial how often this road is being shut and really there has got to be more urgent action on getting a permanent solution. Couldn't this work have been done when the road was previously shut?"
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 key Highlands artery in August, 2020.
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.
Engineers said thousands of tonnes of debris including car-sized boulders slid onto the road after 100mm of rain hit the Argyll hills.
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.
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.
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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