Funding group set up for landslip-affected road

A GROUP has been set up to focus on funding options for a bypass on a Highland road which has suffered a series of closures because of major landslips.

The A890 Stromeferry route, which is plagued by landslips. Picture: Flickr

Businesses and organisations affected by the A890 Stromeferry road are being invited to take part in a bid to help shape options for improving the 12km section of road between Lochcarron and Kyle.

The section of public road alongside the southern shore of Loch Carron has been periodically subject to landslides and rockfalls – sometimes forcing motorists into a 140-mile diversion.

Repairs over the past five years have cost over £4 million.

One landslip closed the route for found months from December to April 2012 and cost Highland Council £2.8m million to deal with.

Options to improve the route include a northern bypass and bridge, putting the rail line onto a viaduct with the road on the existing rail line corridor, and a southern bypass.

These costs range from £86 million to £132 million.

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The Project Group, under the leadership of Director of Development and Infrastructure, Stuart Black, has been set up to look at possible options for funding a long term solution.

Councillor Thomas Prag, the development chairman, said: “I am hopeful that the group can identify a potential way forward.

“This is a lifeline route for local communities in the west and we cannot continue to put very expensive sticking plasters over the problem.

“Any solution, however, will be immensely costly and this is where we will need to work with wider partners and the Scottish Government to find a way forward that is sustainable and provides wider benefits to the economy of the west highlands.”

The Highland Council has a programme to upgrade the A832 with £1.7 million spent on the recently completed road widening project at Strathcarron, and tenders are to be sought early in the New Year for Slattadale, a project of around £1.1 million.

Design works are also progressing on the Balnacra to Lair and the Slattadale to Kerryside sections, however these will be major road realignment schemes, due to the constraints and the topography of these sections.

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