Motorists face long diversions amid bridge work on A82

Fort Augustus swing bridge will be closed for 10 nights, leaving drivers faced with a 28-mile diversion, as part of two months of work on the A82.

The bridge work will involve replacing mechanical items as they are approaching the end of their serviceable life.

As some of the items are located on the underside of the deck, the bridge will have to be swung to the ‘open’ position, closing the road to traffic, to allow safe access. These closures are planned over 10 nights – five nights starting from Monday January 28, 7pm to 6am, and five nights starting Monday February 4, 7pm to 6am. Work on the wider project is due to start on Monday January 7 and last eight weeks.

Chairman of the A82 Partnership Stewart MacLean requested the start time of the overnight closures be changed to the later time of 9pm, in accordance with current practice for full closures of the A82. However, a BEAR Scotland spokesperson told Mr MacLean a phase of the maintenance will involve a noisy operation and will have to be carried out before 10pm as, with the site being in the centre of Fort Augustus, it would be inappropriate to do it later at night. The spokesperson also assured Mr MacLean that arrangements had been made for emergency service cover. The south side of the bridge will be covered from Fort William, while the north side will be covered from Inverness.