Barrier project between Dunbeg and Connel

A project to install safety barriers to improve road safety along the A85 between Dunbeg and Connel started this week.

The £250,000 project will see almost two kilometres of safety barriers installed or upgraded along sections of the route from the Halfway House filling station to the start of the 30mph speed limit at the western end of Connel.

The project has been designed to provide a safer journey for the travelling public and is part of continuing investment in road safety on the A85 by Transport Scotland.

The project is expected to take up to three weeks. The A85 will remain open during the project, but to keep workers as well as motorists safe, temporary traffic lights will be in place.

A spokesperson for BEAR Scotland said: ‘The £250,000 safety barrier upgrade project which began this week is the second phase of work to improve the vehicle-restraint system (VRS) along the A85 between Oban and Connel, and is one of the outcomes of an ongoing road safety investigation in the area.

‘The new safety barriers are engineered so that any impact from an errant vehicle is absorbed and minimised to bring it to a controlled stop. Safety barriers are not designed to bounce vehicles into the road.

‘In terms of installing double white lines, there are strict requirements for their introduction and locations must meet the criteria set by standard national guidance. These requirements state that double white lines should only be implemented where visibility is reduced to an extent where overtaking would be potentially hazardous.

‘A number of lengths of double white line system are already provided on this section of the A85, and teams have investigated the remaining locations along the road between Oban and Connel, and concluded there are no further areas where visibility is so restricted that a double white line system is required.’