Major refurbishment work is set to begin on a road bridge in the Cabrach area of Moray.

The £90,000 project will include repairing some of the existing steelwork, strengthening of the bridge through the installation of new steelwork, a new deck and repainting works.

The bridge, which is located on the Tomnaven Road near the former Cabrach Primary School, serves as the only access to a small community of four farms and households.

As a result, the local authority, along with contractors GABRE (UK), have made arrangements to ensure the inconvenience caused by the works is kept to a minimum.

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A spokesman for the Council said: "The majority of the work will be carried out under a full road closure potentially lasting up to four weeks and a major concern for both the council and the contractor was how to maintain reasonable access to properties.

"To ensure the working farms and households will not be left isolated during the road closure, a number of arrangements have been made.

"The access arrangements include provision of a temporary footbridge, temporary car parks at both ends of the site, and a shuttle service to assist people in moving up and down the 2km length of closed road.

"In addition, the footbridge has been made three metres wide to allow quad bikes with trailers to cross. That was agreed following public consultation and is expected to make a big difference in reducing the impact on the community."

The temporary access arrangements will account for around £17,000 of the total cost of the contract.

GABRE (UK) will start to arrive on site from today (Monday). The road is expected to be closed for up to four weeks, but they are expected to maintain a presence on site for approximately 13 weeks.

(JP/CD)