Transport Scotland has responded to our question yesterday [10th October 2012} as to whether there was any change to the Transport Minister’s position that the emergency diversion route in Glen Croe will carry HGVs and articulated vehicles.
The emergency route – a resurfacing of the historic old military road up the glen, with some physical amendments – will be used as an interim measure when the A83 is closed through threatened or actual landslides.
Following a reader’s sense that there had been a change to the expectation that this route would cope with the full spectrum of traffic carried by the A83, we asked Transport Scotland if they could confirm the current situation.
A Transport Scotland spokesman has now said: ‘We are in the process of strengthening and widening the emergency diversion route and remain entirely confident it will be able to cope with HGVs.
‘We have already surfaced the west end of the Old Military Road, and have carried out a successful trial with a local haulier on the hairpin bend.
‘We also recently met with the Argyll Timber Transport Group to explain in more detail the advantages the Old Military Road has over the forest track.
‘The Scottish Government appreciates the importance of the A83 route as a lifeline route which serves communities throughout Argyll, Kintyre and the Isles.
‘Over £2 million is being invested immediately towards ending the inconvenience caused by diversions following landslides at Rest and Be Thankful.
‘Action is also already underway to install further debris flow netting, with phase 2 completed this week, and traffic management is due to be lifted in the next few days.
‘The Transport Minister is due to host the next Task Force meeting on Monday, one of many visits by Ministers to the area this year.’
The news will be welcomed that traffic restrictions will shortly be lifted on the Rest and Be Thankful section of the A83. The evidence of Scotland Transerv’s work done and in progress there is immediately visible to road users waiting at the current traffic lights on the single lane section and in passing through it.
Culverts have been cleaned out and in one striking case, widened and stripped back to rock. Debris flow netting has been extended and the strategy for the positioning of the new section is clear.
We note, as will concerned readers, that the Transport Scotland statement omits any reference to articulated vehicles and, although we asked again for confirmation on the position for such vehicles, we have had no response.
This sort of sudden corporate affliction with deafness and dumbness tends to suggest specific interpretation.
In this case, it is reasonable to assume that articulated vehicles will not be able to use the emergency route and will continue to have to take the long diversion of over an hour’s duration through Crianlarich, Tyndrum and Dalmally.
This does leave the heaviest users of fuel having to pay to take this lengthy diversion, much of it on roads whose nature does not support fuel economy. These vehicles tend to be key elements of the supply chain to Argyll and the Isles for businesses and for consumers.
While no one wants to see any vehicle conducted on to an unable emergency diversion road, the limitations of this interim solution conclusively reinforce Argyll’s insistence that a permanent solution to this russian roulette of an arterial route must be identified and scheduled without delay to either.
I don’t think that it’s reasonable to assume that articulated vehicles will not be able to use the emergency route – the Scotland Transerv report makes the point that the hairpin is of similar gradient and alignment to the bend at Berriedale on the A9, and even includes a photo on p29 of this (admittedly with a rigid hgv in the picture, but this road is used by plenty of artics).
It would be madness to upgrade the old road for emergency use without being capable of handling artics, as these account for a large proportion of the numerous hgvs using the A83, and Transport Scotland aren’t mad, even if they sometimes deserve heavy criticism.
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It is certainly hard to imagine that Transport Scotland would go ahead on a project which could not accommodate artics.
But they twice avoided the question on artics, which has to be remarked.
Worth a look at the hairpin on Google Earth.
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Surely common sense would indicate that it is easier to negotiate a hairpin bend in an artic than a large rigid vehicle. A wee look at The “Eddie Stobart” programme on Channel 5 might add to one’s understanding of this matter.One might also pause for thought as to how the transport Companies use artics to get the timber out of our forests and onto the ports,mills etc.
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Yes – and not to forget that there are also a lot of truck+trailer combinations on the road. A quick search of youtube shows plenty of such timber trucks doing apparently impossible manouevres, so no problems there.
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Calum.
Artics may be excellent at getting timber out of forests but they are also the main cause of road closures when roads are covered in snow and ice.
Any time there is bad weather with snow and ice on the roads the gritting crews cannot get to work as the roads are blocked by artics whose front cab slips one way and the rear cab goes the other way. When the weather is bad these artics should go into laybys to allow the gritting teams to do their work.
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The A83 is not particularly well endowed with laybys, and over the years I’ve heard persistent rumours that a jacknifed artic blocking the road is a sure way to attract the gritters.
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