Ground investigation works will shortly commence to determine conditions both above and below the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful, which was affected by a landslip in October 2007.

Transport Scotland and its operating company Scotland Transerv are making good progress with the installation of a state-of-the-art laser scanning system to monitor the hillside near the location.

This innovative technique will provide information to enable a better understanding of the pattern of ground movements on the hillside and help predict future potential landslips.

The information from these investigations is essential to allow successful design of the improvement works to be carried out.

Specialist geotechnical contractor Land-Drill Geotechnics Limited will carry out the ground investigation works, which will commence today and last for a period of up to three weeks.

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Since the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful was reopened on November 14 2007 after heavy rain caused 400 tonnes of soil and rock to fall onto the road, significant work has been undertaken both on site and by the design team to assess the complex ground conditions at the location.

Duncan MacNeill, Transport Scotland's Network Manager for the North region said: "From a driver’s point of view, it may appear that little has been done to repair and fully reopen the road. However, a great deal has been done behind the scenes and this week will begin the next stage of assessing the ground conditions in the area where improvements will take place.

"Unfortunately, remedial actions at locations such as the A83 with complex and difficult ground conditions require careful and often lengthy design measures.

"Our pioneering work in the form of our recently published Landslides Study to determine the likely locations of landslides affecting the trunk road network, allied to our innovative strategies for managing the risk associated with landslides in locations such as Rest and Be Thankful, should mean our roads are more resilient in the future."

The landslip in October 2007 caused structural damage to a section of the road west of Arrochar. Debris from the landslide flowed across the road and down the opposite embankment, taking with it the supporting material.

This weakness in the supporting material made the edge of the road structurally unsafe for traffic use, requiring traffic management measures which remain in place to maintain traffic flow away from the road edge.

(GK/JM)