Fog delays Rest and Be Thankful landslip clear-up

THE A83 will remain blocked until at least Sunday after the record landslide at the Rest and Be Thankful pass after fog held up the break up of car-size boulders, Transport Scotland said today.

Around 2000 tonnes of debris fell on Tuesday. Picture: PA/Bear Scotland

Traffic will continue to use a parallel diversion route along the Old Military Road, which has been in use since 2,000 tonnes of debris fell on Tuesday.

The main route between Glasgow and Kintyre had been due to re-open this afternoon, but the Scottish Government agency said thick fog had slowed progress.

A spokeswoman said: “The majority of the debris has now been cleared from the A83 and all that remains are some large boulders on the hillside.

“They have to be secured or broken-up before the road is safe to use.

“Thick fog has hampered work at the top of the hill and the weather forecast suggests this is expected to persist until Saturday.

“As a result, the Old Military Road diversion will continue to be in use at the weekend.”

Transport Scotland head of network maintenance Graham Edmond said: “Some of the boulders have been extremely large and have had to be broken up before they can be transported.

“The safety of our staff and the travelling public is our top priority, and with visibility being very poor today we couldn’t send our teams up the hillside and expose them to risk of injury.”

The road closure is the 11th in three years. The previous worst landslip was in September 2009, when 1,000 tonnes fell.