A new £1.1M catch-pit at the Rest and Be Thankful has been completed which engineers hope will provide additional resilience to the troubled section of the A83 which has suffered from a number of landslides that have closed the road.

The new catch-pit, which was completed last week, is approximately 120m long, around 12m wide and capable of holding around 4,500 tonnes of debris material from a potential landslip.

It is the fifth phase of catch-pit construction to be completed along the route, and joins onto the existing catch-pits in the area to create additional landslip defence next to the A83. They are designed to contain any debris material from a landslip and prevent it from reaching the road. Together, the catch-pits have the potential to store a combined total of almost 20,000 tonnes of debris material from landslides in the area.

Construction of the recently completed catch-pit began in September last year following the initial clear-up of the major landslides in the area in 2020.  Teams worked to complete the project alongside teams that were focused on repairing the road and hillside following the landslips in the area.

Teams are continuing with further mitigation work in at the Rest, including work to strengthen the hillside above the A83 and development of the next catch-pit at the foot of the steep channel formed by major landslides in August and September last year.

(Picture – Bear Scotland)