Landslide blocks Highlands road on Christmas Day

Date: 28/12/2012

A large landslide on Christmas Day left an important link road in the Highlands of Scotland blocked, leaving motorists with a 140-mile diversion.

Work has started to clear the 15 tonnes of rock which fell onto the A890 Stromferry bypass in Wester Ross, although it is thought that the obstruction may not be fully removed until the New Year.

Heavy rain throughout the festive period is to blame for the landslide, which has meant that drivers must travel 140 miles out of their way on the Lochcarron-Kyle road in order to avoid it.

Works had been carried out earlier this year to stabilise the earth surrounding the road, but this has not stopped this most recent slip, which occurred at Ardnarff, west of where preventative measures had been put in place.

The Highland Council is assessing the road in a bid to avoid such closures in the future and to ascertain how long this vital piece of infrastructure will be out of use this time.

Councillor Graham Phillips, of the authority’s transport committee, said: "If you look further up the cliff there’s another 50 tonnes ready to come down and that’s got to be cleared as well. Public safety comes first.

"If that is all we need to take down then the road will be closed for around three or four days.

"If, on the other hand, there is a greater area which needs to be looked at then it could take a great deal longer."

He went onto explain the importance of the road as the main route connecting Inverness to the Isle of Skye, but also that it is particularly vulnerable due to its proximity with the cliff.

For two and a half miles, the road hugs the base of the crag, where three and a half million tonnes of unstable rock is located.

This means that the route has been the site of many landslips in its 30-year history and a number of ways around it have had to be implemented.

Last year a temporary road was created out of rubber matting, by laying it on top of a nearby railway line and the original road was closed between December 22nd and April 23rd.

Posted by Mary Treen

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