Wester Ross road reopens four months after landslide

TRAFFIC began flowing again today on a stretch of road which was shut for four months after a major landslide.

Motorists, including tourists, were forced to take a 140-mile detour after 100 tons of rock fell on the A890 in Wester Ross just before Christmas.

The road between between Lochcarron and Kyle was fully reopened after a major roadworks operation by contractors working for Highland Council.

The A890 helps to connect Lochcarron to Plockton, and its high school, and eventually with Kyle, on the opposite side of Loch Carron.

The road runs across the top of the sea loch to link up with the A896, the main road to Lochcarron.

A 61-passenger ferry was introduced to operate between North Strome, near Lochcarron, and Plockton followng the rockfall.

However, it suffered engine failure while clea n -up work continued..

As a result, the railway track next to the road was used for some timel ast month, but travel was restricted to vehicles under 10-tonnes and priority was given to emergency vehicles and local traffic.

More than 100 tonnes of rock came down on the Lochcarron to Kyle road at Stromeferry. There was a further landslide a few days later.

Vehicles are being diverted onto the nearby railway line which will be open between 7am and 7pm, every day of the week.

Rob Gibson SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross has written to the Chief Executive of the Highland Council to find out when the promised plan for by-passing the Strome by-pass will emerge.

The four months of disruption came to an end as the road reopens this week. However over decades dangerous rock falls have occurred again and again. This points to the urgent need for a permanent solution.

Mr Gibson said: “Promises were made to local people and in council that options for a permanent solution would be published by this time. It is potentially a life and death matter so I am asking for this to be made a top priority in the Council’s road programme.

“The public deserves to have peace of mind that the most urgent attention be given to re-route the A890 between Attadale and Achmore to end the fears of rock falls on a key route in Wester Ross.”