Transport officials say all overnight road closures on the A83 are “essential” and efforts are being made to minimise their impact on road users.
It comes after Campbeltown Community Council appealed to road maintenance and management firm BEAR Scotland to reduce the number of simultaneous closures over concerns about their effect on Kintyre residents and businesses.
One Campbeltown-based company revealed it is even considering moving from Argyll because of the frequency of closures between Campbeltown and Glasgow.
Community council convener Valerie Nimmo said: “This is a business that we cannot afford to lose, so we have asked BEAR Scotland to plan the road maintenance schedule to ensure that there are fewer road closures taking place at the same time.
“The week beginning April 8, at any one time, there were a minimum of three road/carriageway closures on the route to Glasgow. These were at Kilchenzie, Artilligan, Lochgilphead, Inveraray and the Rest and Be Thankful.
“While everyone appreciates the need for road maintenance and the need to ensure the safety of road workers, the programme of roadworks on the A83 is unacceptable.”
A spokesperson for BEAR Scotland said: “We appreciate there is a lot of activity on the A83 at present along its 100-mile length from Tarbet to Campbeltown – all of the work is essential road maintenance and we are keen to complete this to keep the road safe.
“The road resurfacing at various locations has been a programme of work being undertaken consecutively and was originally planned for March. Delays due to inclement weather pushed this into April, making it even busier than originally planned.
“Unfortunately, these delays have led to reorganisation of closure dates which we appreciate is very frustrating.
“The project at Kilchenzie is now complete and the final project at Artilligan commenced on April 17 and is due to be completed by 5am on April 27.”
The spokesperson added that a tree removal programme between Inveraray and Cairndow was safety-related work due to Ash-dieback.
The tree-felling had to be completed before the height of the bird nesting season, with the work originally delayed to April to avoid conflict with the road resurfacing programme.
It was scheduled to be completed on May 4 but contractors have worked hard to complete the job earlier than planned in a bid to minimise disruption, with the final overnight closure taking place on Tuesday April 23.
The BEAR Scotland spokesperson added: “The issues currently being experienced at the Rest and Be Thankful have understandably added further to the frustration, with safety concerns requiring traffic to use the Old Military Road at times.
“With an improvement in the weather, traffic is now back on the A83 albeit under traffic management, with much reduced delays.
“Other works along the route, including structures repairs and utility works, tend to be traffic signal controlled which have minimal impact at night when the closures are in place.
“With significant investment in the A83 by Transport Scotland, both in terms of maintenance and the preparation work for the major improvements at Rest and Be Thankful, essential roadworks will be a necessity.
“We will continue to try to minimise the need for road closures and where they are required, do our best to minimise their impact.
“It’s important to stress that Argyll remains open for business, and even if alternative routes are in place, access is possible at all times, even if journey times can be slightly longer.”
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