‘Common sense’ decision on A83 Butterbridge works

The Rest and be Thankful (RABT) campaign group has hailed a ‘small victory for common sense’ with the freeing up of a key stretch of road for Argyll travellers.

BEAR Scotland, which manages the trunk road on behalf of Transport Scotland, has agreed to remove traffic light and speed bump restrictions on the A83 near Butterbridge, after running out of materials and postponing work until spring 2023.

Huge mounds of construction material have been ‘stored’ in the large lay-by 200 metres west of the bridge for 18 months - some of it leftover material from work at the Rest and be Thankful - to be used for the road works at Glen Kinglas.

Eddie Ross, north-west representative for BEAR, told the RABT Campaign on Monday: ‘Glen Kinglas was originally identified as an area of landslide risk which has led to the long-term programme of work being undertaken albeit, until now, as and when material was available.

‘Following further discussion and review we have now agreed with Transport Scotland that the completion of the bund works is delayed until spring 2023 so as not to conflict with the current pit works at Rest and be Thankful. We have also agreed a suitable inspection regime which will allow the traffic signals at Glen Kinglas to be removed next week, following the completion of some further earthworks around the bund this week.’

John Gurr, chairperson of the RABT Campaign, said: ‘We welcome the news from BEAR that the temporary roadworks at Glen Kinglas will be removed while work at this site is paused.

‘This stretch of road has been subject to lane closures for the past 18 months and as this site has not been active since July, it was the right decision to remove the restrictions.

‘We must ask, though, why it has taken 10 requests during the past three months from the campaign, and others that we know about, to make this change happen.

‘Why isn’t it standard practice to remove road restrictions during periods of extended inactivity?

‘This is a small victory for common sense, but our main focus remains to campaign for a safe, two-way road at the Rest, that stays open when it rains.

‘We will continue to work with others in order to achieve this goal.'

Dougie Philand, Mid Argyll councillor, welcomed what he described as a small but important victory for the campaign.

He said: ‘John Gurr has to take a lot of credit as after it came up at the RABT Task Force meeting, he sought updates on the Glen Kinglas situation.

‘It makes total sense to reopen the A83 there.

‘If the road is assessed as safe and there is no work happening, why keep traffic lights in operation?

‘It’s good that the campaign could be influential in this way, albeit on a smaller issue than the Rest itself, but it helps reinforce the idea that the RABT campaign is not going away, while trying to establish a permanent solution for the Rest.

‘We will revisit the Glen Kinglas issue with BEAR before the spring to ensure that work does recommence then,’ he added.