Warning about late night Badenoch trunk road bridge closure
A bridge on the A889 south of Dalwhinnie will be closed at the start of next week to allow teams to safely carry out essential survey work ahead of a future maintenance project.
The Drochaid A'Bhacain Bridge which carries the trunk road across the River Truim is set for scour repairs to take place later this year.
A BEAR Scotland spokesperson explained: "Teams need to complete essential ecological surveys of the masonry to check for wildlife before any work can be carried out.
"The bridge is located close to the A9 junction south of the village of Dalwhinnie.
"A large underbridge unit will be stationed on the carriageway which will allow teams safe access to the structure and beneath the bridge deck.
"For safety, the bridge needs to be closed when this takes place as the unit will be stationed in the centre of the road."
The closures are scheduled to take place overnight next Monday (February 24) for four hours from 10pm to 2am.
Traffic will be diverted via the A9 Inverness-Perth road and A86 Newtonmore-Fort William road.
Alternatively, three on the hour openings will be provided for road users with traffic held until it is safe to pass through the work area.
The bridge will remain open to pedestrians and emergency services.
Eddie Ross, BEAR Scotland’s North West Representative said: “This project will allow us to carry out detailed ecological surveys of the masonry on the Drochaid A’Bhacain Bridge near Dalwhinnie to check for roosting bats or other wildlife before we begin essential scour repair work in the summer.
“The results will help inform us of what precautionary measures we need to put in place to ensure our impact on the environment is kept to a minimum.
“We’ve planned the work to take place overnight when traffic volumes are lower to avoid impacting on road users, and we’ve also arranged for hourly amnesties to be in place to allow any waiting traffic through the work site when it is safe to do.
“Our teams will carry out the work as quickly and safely as possible.
"We encourage road users to plan their journeys in advance and check the Traffic Scotland website for up to date travel information.”
Real time journey information is available from Traffic Scotland on www.trafficscotland.org, twitter at @trafficscotland or the new mobile website my.trafficscotland.org.
