£1.1 million of funding has been allocated to progress a detailed business case that is needed to produce recommended options, developed budget estimate and outline delivery programme for the permanent repair of the A816 at Ardfern.
This was agreed by the Environment, Development and Infrastructure committee on 11 September.
This £1.1m in funding had originally been identified for the long-term work required to make the permanent repairs. This estimate was based on widening the by-pass road, costs for consents, licences, ground investigations, design fees and contingency.
However, in the course of developing options for re-instating the road, consultants found two further significant geotechnical issues that could lead to further landslides. These will have to be addressed as part of the works to make the permanent repair to the road.
New options put forward have been reviewed by council officers and four were shortlisted for further review and business case development.
The committee agreed to procure the services of a specialist consultancy to develop the project to Strategic Outline Business Case and preferred option stage in the first instance, with a view to retaining them for the full life-cycle of the project.
Councillor John Armour, Policy Lead for Roads, Transport and Amenity Services, said:
“This is a main artery route for ɬ. It was vital to get it open and traffic moving as quickly as possible after the landslip and we need to get the permanent repair right. It’s disappointing to learn that there is still some risk to the stability of the hillside and this is something we have to consider when selecting the preferred option.”
You can read the full report on the council website:
The project to date
- On 7 October 2023 during the wettest two days in series from 1891, approximately a month of rainfall fell in a 36- hour period in a number of areas within ɬ.
- The heavy rainfall fell onto already saturated ground and triggered three separate but closely spaced debris flow events from the steep slope through Bealach Mor immediately adjacent to the A816.
- This deposited approximately 6000 tonnes of material over nearly 200m length of road, with more debris on the surrounding slopes and fields.
- We cleared around 10,000 tonnes of debris, from the original event and subsequent debris from later smaller events and erosion / wash out of material remaining on the slope.
- Owing to the ongoing movement and potential debris to impact the road a temporary bypass route was constructed as the fastest and safest way to reopen the A816.
- The bypass, built to temporary not highway standard, took six weeks to construct and opened to the public on the 16th December 2023.
- Following the completion of clearance works, construction of protective barrier systems and the implementation of a temporary traffic light system to control single lane running, traffic was returned to the original route of the A816 and the temporary diversion road closed on 13 September 2024.
