Scotland's weather: Rest and Be Thankful traffic to use Old Military Road diversion during yellow warning for heavy rain

The Old Military Road will be in use as a diversion at the Rest And Be Thankful.

The OMR, a single-track road through the centre of Glen Croe, will be utilised throughout the afternoon and overnight with all traffic being managed on the OMR under convoy operation as a safety precaution due to forecast heavy rain throughout the area.

Met Office yellow warnings have now been issued for heavy rain across western Scotland today until 12noon on Saturday. Intense persistent rainfall is expected to impact the Argyll area throughout this afternoon and overnight with up to 50mm of rain predicted over the course of the next 24 hours.

The A83 is currently under convoy operation and this will remain in place until 3.30pm this afternoon before all traffic is switched to use the OMR. An assessment will take place on Friday at 8.00am to determine if it is safe to reopen the A83.

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Construction work continues on strengthening the landslide mitigation measures in the area, including development of further debris catch-pits.

Eddie Ross, BEAR Scotland’s North West representative said: “We’re putting road user safety first and diverting all traffic to use the Old Military Road from 3.30pm as a safety precaution due to tonight’s weather forecast of heavy rain showers.

“A band of heavy rain is expected to impact the area from this afternoon, with persistent rainfall expected throughout the night and into Friday morning.

“We have teams closely monitoring conditions in the area as well as the hillside above the A83, and we’ll assess the situation tomorrow morning with a view to re-opening the trunk road as quickly as possible if conditions permit and it is safe to do so.

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“As ever, we thank all road users and the local community for their patience in advance while we continue with our work to address the Rest and Be Thankful.”

Real time journey information is available from Traffic Scotland on www.trafficscotland.org, twitter at @trafficscotland and the mobile site my.trafficscotland.org.

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