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Current News
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10th September 2009 A83 Trunk Road- Rest and be Thankful landslip A landslip which caused the temporary closure of the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful has been cleared and the road will reopen to all traffic at 3pm today. Following prompt action by the landslide patrol that identified the likelihood of a landslide in this area, swift action has been undertaken to clear of over a thousand tonnes of debris, repair of the lower embankment and clean the road. Thorough safety checks and geotechnical inspections have concluded and traffic management systems are now being installed. Speaking about the work and the reopening of the road, transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said: “I’m delighted the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful it to reopen just 48 hours after the landslip, minimising inconvenience and disruption to the local community. The response has been swift and we appreciate the patience shown by the general public while the road was made safe and brought back to normal operations. “Transport Scotland with the support of their maintenance agency, Scotland TranServ have done an excellent job in addressing this challenge within such a short timeframe.” There will be continued presence by Scotland Transerv staff in the coming days to monitor hillside conditions as well as manage traffic. Early on Tuesday 8th September, following a period of severe weather a landslide patrol identified areas of concern at the rest and Be Thankful To ensure the safety of all road users the road was closed by Transport Scotland’s road maintenance contractor Scotland TranServ as a precaution. Shortly after a landslide occurred depositing 1070 tonnes of debris on the road. Scotland TranServ immediately mobilised vehicles, plant and specialist subcontractors, QTS, to assist with the clear up operation. An immediate safety assessment was carried out which allowed swift progress to be made on the removal of approximately 450 tonnes of debris by the onset of darkness on day one. At first light on Wednesday morning the work continued apace alongside a comprehensive assessment of the condition of the hillside. By 4pm all the debris had been safely removed from the road surface. Work continued to ensure the structural integrity of the embankment. The geotechnical assessment concluded this morning and once traffic management system have been installed the road will reopen to all traffic at 3pm today. 1070 tonnes of debris has been removed from the A83, the scoured lower embankment has been repaired with 250 tonnes of rockfill and the blocked culvert and ditches have been cleared and are running free. While it is not possible to guarantee against future occurrences Scotland Transerv will continue to closely monitor events and implement mitigation measures as appropriate. Transport Scotland is the national transport agency for Scotland and works with others to deliver improvements to our road and rail networks. We are also responsible for the delivery of the national concessionary travel schemes. 9th September 2009 A83 Trunk Road- Rest and be Thankful landslip On 8th September following a prolonged period of heavy rain a landslip occurred on the A83 Rest and be Thankful. After the site operations to remove the debris from the road surface and adjoining areas a site assessment will be carried and until such times as evaluations of hillside stability, supporting embankments and road damage have taken place no timescale can be given regarding road reopening. Road user safety is of vital importance in circumstances such as this and will be the overriding factor in all decisions taken. For all general enquiries relating to the incident, please contact 01738 455383 during normal working hours. For up to date information log on to Traffic Scotland Website. Winter Maintenance 2008/09 Winter 2008/09 proved to be the most onerous to date for Scotland TranServ,
and was statistically the coldest since 1996. 24th March 2009 - Scottish Road Network Landslide Study Seminar Douglas Cumming, a senior geotechnical engineer in Scotland TranServ’s Perth office, was asked to give a presentation at the Scottish Road Network Landslide Study seminar organised by Transport Scotland on 24 March, 2009. This was to highlight the development of landslides management plan and mitigation strategy for the Scottish trunk road network. The invited audience comprised a wide range of representatives from the transportation, geotechnical and environmental sectors within national and local authorities, consultants, contractors, universities and statutory bodies throughout the United Kingdom. His presentation outlined Scotland TranServ’s contractual requirement for quarterly monitoring of the hillside above and below a section of the A83 trunk road between Arrochar and Inveraray, known locally as “The Rest-and-be-Thankful”. It illustrated the four debris flow failures, which have occurred over the past eighteen months, and the changing requirements of a hillside monitoring system to cope with the dynamics of an ever changing hillside, ending with examples of the processed data obtained from the latest development in remote laser scanning recently trialled on site. Up-to-the-minute A9 travel reports are available at the Traffic Scotland website. Traffic Scotland enables the collection and distribution of real-time traffic information relating to incidents and events currently taking place on the Scottish trunk road network. Click this on this link to be taken to the Traffic Scotland Website. 5th May 2008 - Information on Pre-Wetted Salting For information on Winter Maintenance please click on this link For a downloadable copy of the Safer Winter Driving leaflet please click on this link NEWS ARCHIVE - Click on this link to be taken to our news archive area
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