A83 at Rest and be Thankful: Anger over 20-year failure to fix road

The Herald Scotland

06-05-2025

The campaign group, made up of 1000 businesses from across Argyll, Kintyre, Mid Argyll and Cowal and supported by the Road Haulage Association and NFU Scotland, remain concerned that the area has not seen two way access into Argyll for nearly five years since a major landslip on the road.
And they say that while the A83 Task Force was set up in 2012 to help the Government deliver a permanent solution, all that has been approved are solutions along the existing route which "fail to keep up with the increasingly unstable hillside".
Read more:
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It comes as concerns have been raised by business owners about a series of A83 road closures being planned between May and August as part of a long term solution ground investigation.
The road will be shut between 8am and 6pm with traffic diverted onto the Old Military Road, for 17 separate days between May 19 and August 5.
In June 2023, Transport Scotland unveiled plans to build a mile-long tunnel to protect vehicles from landslips on what is one of Scotland's most famous tourist roads.
Video: Flythrough of the long term A83 preferred long term solution
But there are concerns that when work on the permanent solution is even started it will mean depending heavily on a single track road - the Old Military Road (OMR) - under convoy for years.
Transport Scotland said it remained "committed" to delivering a permanent solution to the landslip risks and said it had made further progress by publishing draft orders to secure land.
It said it "recognised" that the timescales involved were "frustrating" for local residents, businesses and communities but they needed to "ensure we get the right solutions of the correct standard in the correct place".
The A83 at the Rest and be Thankful in Argyll has regularly been closed by falling rocks and debris in recent years.
The closures can leave motorists facing long detours while the route is cleared.
And group has told ministers that they are "amazed" that anyone would try to build a road on the existing road which is under constant threat of landslides from 200,000 tonnes of unstable material.
They say that work would constantly be stopped every time there is movement on the hillside, increasing building costs, and delay delivery of a solution.
In a message to ministers, they have said that they believe businesses and people of Argyll will "continue to suffer from the effects poor connectivity and population decline for another decade at least".
They are concerned that the task force has been refusing to review an alternative approach despite the cost constraints it is facing.
Its involvement in the A83 Task Force has discovered that the while ministers say they are committed to funding the project, decisions are being made on an annual basis, which they took to mean that there is "no guarantee the project will have the finance in place to go ahead when it is finally presented".
They say the Scottish Government will not consider a far cheaper £100m alternative to run a road on the opposite side of Glen Croe which could be delivered within two years according to Transport Scotland. They say that this side of the glen has no had landslides, already has a mature forest above binding the soil, and the slopes are less steep.
The A83 is an almost 100-mile major trunk road connecting the Mull of Kintyre and southern Argyll to the shores of Loch Lomond.
Video: The medium-term solution involves improving the single-track Old Military Road.
As part of a medium-term solution for the road, a programme of improvements will be carried out to the existing single track, the OMR which will be used as the local diversion of the A83 until the long-term solution is in place.
About 1.3m vehicles travel the route every year and it acts as an important transport link for mainland Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides.
But the Rest and Be Thankful section - a steep climb out of Glen Croe near Arrochar - is vulnerable to landslides and was closed for a total of 200 days in 2020.
When the road is closed, the Old Military Road beneath that was originally built by General George Wade in response to the Jacobite uprisings in the 18th Century is opened to traffic.
John Gurr of the campaign said: "If you put to one side we think it is the wrong solution, and assuming that objections of others to the public consultations can be overcome, we still have concerns that this solution will ever be built.
"The current proposal does not have any money budgeted or earmarked to develop this proposal past its current stage until after the next Scottish Government elections in 2026. Transport Scotland estimates contractors being appointed sometime in 2027, if this project fits with the next governments spending priorities.
"We are aware that whichever political party wins a majority at the next parliament they will be faced with cost constraints and choices will have to be made on funding.
"Recently road schemes in Scotland have been shelved as too costly, but it is vital we actually see something happen and get a consensus as to what is affordable and deliverable.
"The A83 has only had one lane open at the RABT since August 2020 despite £30m being spent on short term measures which have not delivered a two way road that stays open when it rains.
"We want to ensure a reliable two way road is funded and delivered in a timely way.
"Over the last five years, this abnormal situation has become normalised, and we have not seen anything that gives us confidence that a solution on the only viable route into Argyll will be built and are concerned that this will continue to strangle its viability for many more years delivering social inequality, economic decline and further depopulation."
Fears over the road at the Rest hit fresh heights on August 4, 2020, when some 6,000 tonnes of debris cascaded onto the road.
A helicopter was called in to clear a huge boulder during a major landslide in August, 2020And there has been anger over ministers "wasting" up to £130m over more than a decade on failed solutions to the landslide issue.
Mr Gurr, a retired logistics expert said: "We are coming up to the fifth anniversary of the August landslide. When is it going to be open for two way traffic?
"We would say re-assess it. Have a look at what is economically viable for the current and future governments.
"This has to be done.
"Transport Scotland is dragging its feet and won't do anything till after the election. It cant carry on like this for years. The can is being kicked down the road.
"Let's put something in that will deliver a permanent solution and not impact the economy of Argyll for the next five or six years.
"They say they are doing investigation work. But this must be the most investigated hillside in the world."
Mr Gurr written to the transport secretary Fiona Hyslop to raise concerns over the road closures planned for preparatory work from mid-May.
He told her: "The closures will impact the peak tourist season including the Fyne fest over the weekend of the May 30 they will have a major impact on the Inverary Highland Games on the 22nd July, as well as many day trips cancelled when the OMR is in operation.
"Having trawled through the paperwork published in support of the current OMR upgrade and the debris shelter I cannot find any meaningful work, other than a brief statement, which defines the impact of using the OMR on the economy and livelihood of people in Argyll. We have seen business closures, investments withdrawn and population decline with more than 35% reduction in working age people in the past 10 years.
"We have argued that to build on the unstable side of the glen is the wrong solution, in the wrong place, but our main concern is that this solution will leave us using the 170 year old single track OMR well into the future as the main road into Argyll."
David Sumsion, director of the Ardkinglas Estates raised objections saying: "I'm stating in the clearest possible language, that the actions you are proposing are not acceptable.
"We have enough past experience to know that this level of interruption of business will result in loss of income/increased costs running into tens of thousands (or possibly hundreds of thousands) of pounds. Not only would there be that direct cost in the short term, but in the medium term there would be further negative impact on the public's general view of the accessibility of this part of Argyll.
"If this work has to be done, which in itself is questionable, then why wasn't it done in the 'quiet' months, when the road was already subject to continuous traffic-light delays anyway. "
The bus, coach and ferry operator West Coast Motors said it too had "significant concerns" over the move.
Sharon Morrison, communications director of West Coast Motors said there needed to be "decisive action" from Transport Scotland and Ms Hyslop to establish a permanent two-way open road .
Structural Soils Ltd has told those affected by the new closures: "We recognise the impacts the current work has on the local community, businesses and road users and we are therefore committed to deliver the works as quickly as possible to minimise disruption."
A Transport Scotland spokesman added: 'Whilst there is always a desire to deliver proposed improvements to the trunk road network in a timeous and efficient manner to provide the associated benefits to the affected communities and population, we are duty bound to properly follow the correct statutory planning process.
'The investment to date for mitigation measures, such as catch pits, have kept the road open when previously it would have been closed for considerable periods of time.
'The landslip prone area requires complex solutions and the total spent to date reflects the extensive appraisal and assessment needed to inform the detailed design work for both solutions and the extent of the work needed to address the complexity and challenges involved in completing the scheme.
The spokesman added: 'As part of the ongoing ground investigation work for the long-term solution, we require to introduce daytime diversions from the A83 onto the Old Military Road (OMR). We have written to stakeholders advising them of the proposed diversions and are seeking comment.
'These ground investigation works are absolutely essential in gaining a greater understanding of the ground composition, the nature and depth of superficial deposits and the strength and depth of rockhead in order to design the foundations for the proposed scheme. The timing of these works have been planned to make better use of the increased daylight hours as the works are not possible to be undertaken at night for safety reasons.