Our regular artist, Ann Thomas from Tarbert, this week turns her keen eye to the Rest and be thankful. Ann’s imagination was clearly sparked by the name of the company currently managing the route – BEAR Scotland.
The A83 trunk road has been subject to a number of closures over the past decade and more owing to debris landing on the road, with the Scottish Government gradually introducing landslide ‘mitigation’ measures over many years. These come after the government selected the lowest-cost option of a number of engineering alternatives, in the notorious Jacobs Report, to improve this vital road link.
As things stand, the mitigation work is heading for completion, and there the investment is likely to stop. The Argyllshire Advertiser continues to ask the question: why is the Scottish Government not investing significant (in A9, Aberdeen bypass or Queensferry Crossing terms) sums of money in the west coast trunk roads, particularly to upgrade the A83? These routes are as vital to Argyll and the Isles as the M8 is to the central belt or the A9 in relation to Inverness.