Introduction

About this report

This report outlines the communication and engagement activities undertaken by Transport Scotland for the A83 Rest and Be Thankful scheme in relation to the design development for the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Stage 3 Assessment for the long-term solution (LTS) and progress towards delivering the medium-term solution (MTS).

It includes an overview of the feedback period which took place between 18 March and 10 May 2024.

Background

The A83 Trunk Road is a major 98 mile/158 km road in the south of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands. The A83 is a vital artery route through Argyll, running from Tarbet on the western shore of Loch Lomond, where it splits from the A82 to Campbeltown at the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsular. The highest point along the route is known as the Rest and Be Thankful, separating Glen Kinglas and Glen Croe.

The section of the A83 between Ardgartan and the Rest and Be Thankful car park and viewpoint has a history of hillside instability, in particular, the Beinn Luibhean slopes above the Rest and Be Thankful.

The most significant recorded landslides at the Rest and Be Thankful occurred in August and September 2020. Following these unprecedented events, the former Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson MSP, asked Transport Scotland to look at a long-term, resilient, and sustainable solution to the problem of landslides in Glen Croe. The A83 Rest and Be Thankful project team has been commissioned to develop a resilient and sustainable road to Argyll and Bute to address the landslide issues at the Rest and Be Thankful.

Whilst the assessment of the LTS is well underway, Transport Scotland is progressing with the MTS, which will see improvements made to the Old Military Road (OMR) in order to create a more resilient diversion route through Glen Croe while the LTS is being developed.

Transport Scotland are also continuing to actively work with BEAR Scotland to invest in ways of keeping the existing A83 open at the Rest and Be Thankful despite the effects of the weather. Work to date has included the installation of a debris cage and new culvert, construction of an additional catchpit, debris fencing and flood mitigation measures at the River Croe crossing.

Long-Term Solution

In September 2020, 11 potential route corridor options were presented to the public to gather feedback and inform initial design and assessment work. In March 2021, a Preliminary Assessment Report was published, and the preferred route corridor was announced as the Glen Croe Corridor and five potential route options which included various combinations of tunnels, viaducts and debris flow shelters were identified for further design work.

Following this report and over 650 responses to the public consultation on the scheme, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity announced a preferred route corridor on 18 March 2021 – Route Corridor 1 through Glen Croe.

Atkins Réalis WSP Joint Venture (AWJV) were appointed in September 2022 to progress both the medium-term and permanent long-term solutions to the issues faced at the Rest and Be Thankful.

In June 2023 the former Minister for Transport, Kevin Stewart MSP announced the preferred route for the permanent LTS as the Brown Option which consists of a debris flow shelter and catch pit on the line of the existing A83. This announcement marked a major milestone in the project.

The LTS objectives are:

Resilience - Reduce the impact of disruption for travel to, from and between key towns within Argyll and Bute, and for communities accessed via the strategic road network;
Safety - positively contribute towards the Scottish Government’s Vision Zero road safety target by reducing accidents on the road network and their severity;
Economy - Reduce geographic and economic inequalities within Argyll and Bute through improved connectivity and resilience;
Sustainable travel - Encourage sustainable travel to, from and within Argyll and Bute through facilitating bus, active travel and sustainable travel choices; and
Environment - Protect the environment, including the benefits local communities and visitors obtain from the natural environment by enhancing natural capital assets and ecosystem service provision through the delivery of sustainable transport infrastructure.

The key components of the LTS are outlined below:

4km single carriageway improvements;
4km debris flow shelter structure and catch pit;
180m retaining wall and catch pit;
Watercourse realignment/channel improvement works/culverts;
Drainage works, including sustainable drainage systems (SuDS);
Upgrades to the B828 junction with the A83; and
Upgrades to the Rest and Be Thankful Car Park and Viewpoint.

Since the announcement of the preferred route for the LTS, the project team have been undertaking further design development work as part of the DMRB Stage 3 Assessment, including:

Refinement of the A83 carriageway alignment;
Design of the B828 Glen Mhor local road junction;
Development of the DFS and protection wall design;
Refinement of the geotechnical aspects of the design, including further geohazard and rock-fall modelling;
Development of the proposals to minimise the impact on the environment, informed by various environmental surveys and fieldwork;
Development of the proposals to mitigate impacts on the water environment, including sustainable drainage proposals;
Consideration of construction methodology to minimise disruption to road users during the construction phase; and,
Consideration of the proposals for the Rest and Be Thankful Car Park and Viewpoint.

Medium-Term Solution

On 23 December 2022, the former Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth announced the preferred option for the MTS. Improvements to the existing OMR through the Glen Croe corridor are being made to make it a more resilient diversion route until the LTS to the problems at the Rest and Be Thankful is in place. These improvements will improve the resilience of the diversion route, reduce journey times and are the quickest to construct, of relatively lower cost and would have the least impacts overall across the range of criteria assessed of the medium-term options considered.

The MTS objectives are:

Increase resilience of a temporary diversion route by reducing the likelihood of closure due to landslides, flooding, or other incidents
Maximise the operational benefits of a temporary diversion route, for all vehicles, by providing a route that achieves a proportionate balance of time to implement, cost and impact
Reduce the likelihood of accidents on a temporary diversion route

The interventions for the MTS scheme aim to be proportionate to the current impacts experienced at the Rest and Be Thankful, primarily to improve resilience to the diversion route during closures of the A83 prior to the LTS being introduced.

The MTS interventions are currently split into three phases:

Phase 1 - Realign the OMR at the southern end at its junction with the A83, avoiding the area prone to flooding
Phase 2 - Landslide mitigation including bunds and debris fences as well as drainage improvements and discrete widening of bends on the OMR
Phase 3 - Extend the length of road available for two-way traffic

The extension of the OMR for two-way widening and a reduction in the length of convoy operation results in average journey times reducing by one third (approximately 10 minutes). This journey time improvement on the existing OMR operation aims to provide improvements both in the medium-term and long-term (during the long-term solution construction).

The MTS Phase 1 works started on site in December 2023 and include the realignment of the OMR at the southern end junction with the A83 to avoid an area prone to flooding. Construction of the new link road is now complete and operational when required.

Transport Scotland is aiming to deliver Phase 2 and 3 of the MTS as quickly as possible, subject to ongoing ground investigations and obtaining the necessary consents.

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