THE A83 trunk road linking Argyll to central Scotland could reopen on Thursday after being closed by landslides for more than a week.

BEAR Scotland, the trunk roads maintenance company responsible for the route, says its teams have made "good progress" following multiple landslips on the route near the Rest and Be Thankful on October 9 and 12, and now hope to open the road – albeit under the control of temporary traffic lights – on the afternoon of October 18.

A diversionary route – the nearby Old Military Road – will remain in operation overnight until the main road is open again.

A final decision on whether to open the A83 will be made late on Thursday morning following safety assessments and a review of conditions in the area.

Eddie Ross, BEAR Scotland’s North West representative, said: “Teams have made great progress on site with works to reinstate the debris fences damaged by last week’s landslips and improvements to the drainage measures almost complete.

“We’re working to carry out a full safety review in the late morning tomorrow and once the remaining sections of repair work is completed we hope to be in a position to reopen the A83 under temporary traffic lights at some point tomorrow afternoon.

“The safety of road users remains of paramount importance, and we need to ensure that all measures are completed before we are confident it is safe to reopen the A83. This will involve a final inspection with Police Scotland.

“In the meantime, the Old Military Road will continue to remain in operation overnight and throughout the day tomorrow until the A83 reopens.

“We thank the local community and road users for their patience while we complete operations at the Rest and Be Thankful, and assure them we’re doing everything possible to reopen the road as soon as it is safe to do so."

Real time journey information is available from Traffic Scotland on www.trafficscotland.org, twitter @trafficscotland or the new mobile site, my.trafficscotland.org.