Road rage Ministers criticised over 10-year wait for A83 solution
Major disruption at controversial Rest and Be Thankful site is set to continue indefinitely – as frustrated campaigners claim siutation is now an ‘economic, social and safety crisis’
MINISTERS have been warned of the risk of deaths as they forge ahead with a 10-year timescale to provide an permanent solution to Scotland’s most notorious stretch of road – having sanctioned paying £25 million on consultants alone.
Transport Scotland is offering a 10-year contract for the consultants who will oversee and support delivery of a new route to replace the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful which has suffered decades of landslides.
The contract being sought is over and above any construction costs and associated ground investigations aimed at making life for motorists safe at the landslip-prone A83.
The length of the Transport Scotland contract goes against demands from The Rest and Be Thankful Campaign which has set a deadline of 2024 to resolve a problem that has not been resolved in over 15 years.
The campaign group, made up of 1,000 businesses from across Argyll, Kintyre, Mid Argyll and Cowal, and supported by the Road Haulage Association and NFU Scotland, has written to Roy Brannen, chief executive of Transport Scotland, telling him the “crisis” at the Rest and Be Thankful is “an economic, social, and safety disaster for the area, which is not being taken seriously enough by Transport Scotland or the Government”.
The campaign said it has learned through communications with transport chiefs “with growing realisation and utter disbelief” that it is going to take 18 months just to evaluate the ground conditions.
Closed again
IT comes as locals were warned the A83 could be shut down again in coming days with heavy rain expected from Monday night. The Old Military Road, the single-track local alternative route, is on standby.
Transport Scotland said it is exploring ways to reduce timescales and looking to upgrade a single-track forestry road running parallel to the A83 in the medium term which could be in place in 18 months. There have been months of disruption in the past year alone after a series of landslips.
The Rest and Be Thankful Campaign says during the last landslide, a bus-load of passengers was two cars away from being swept off the road.
Motorists already have had to use the Old Military Road on convoy when the important
Highlands route is shut and when it too is closed, they face a 60-mile diversion.
‘Emergency’
JOHN Gurr, chairman of The Rest and be Thankful Campaign, said: “If the next landslide, or subsequent diversion along the equally inadequate A82, results in a fatality, who will be held accountable? This is an emergency. And in an emergency you have to cut through things to get things done.”
In his letter to Transport Scotland, he states: “If the A83 was a business site with the threat of a landslide outside its doors, would it still be allowed to operate, or would it be shut down? Who is responsible for the social and economic impact on Argyll while we wait another 10 years for something permanent to be done?
“All we are asking for is to cut through the ‘business as usual’ approach and appoint someone who can build 2km of safe road within the next three years, which stays open when it rains.”
The Herald revealed last week that at least £4m had been “wasted” over five years of failed temporary fixes to the route after a 15-year failure to prevent landslides and disruption, and come up with a permanent solution. The new contractor will be responsible for managing plans still to be decided to provide an alternative to the hotspot on the A83 which is a key road link for the Highlands and Argyll and Bute.
Part of their responsibility will be to prepare for public inquiries and hearingsassociated with the project.
Transport Scotland chiefs believe that a local inquiry will be required and the contractors will be expected to build a case for justifying the scheme.
Tunnel plan
THE new A83 route, which could include a tunnel close to the lifeline road via Glen Croe, is the Scottish Government’s favoured solution.
It was among 11 options put forward last year for a long-term solution to years of disruption for road traffic between central Scotland and Argyll.
But that choice has now led to five new options on the table for the new Glen Croe route, some of which include tunnels up to 1.8 miles long.
Although no timescale or likely costs were announced over the permanent solution to the chaos of the Rest and Be Thankful, the tunnel options could take up to two years longer than the others and some estimate it could cost between £268m and £860m at current prices.
The new contract makes it clear that ministers expect it to the take 10 years.
Transport Scotland said: “The term ‘emergency’ has been used by the group to explore if further powers would be available to bypass some of the standard processes.
“While we do not think there are any particular powers available in that context, we made a commitment, as part of the preferred route corridor announcement last month, to continue to explore ways of reducing the timescales to bring forward both the medium-term and long-term routes, while continuing to maximise the availability of the A83 and the Old Military Road.”
This is an emergency. And in an emergency you have to cut through things to get things done