A890 road
| A890 road in the UK | |
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| Basic data | |
| Operator: | |
| Start of the street: |
Achnasheen ( 57 ° 35 ′ N , 5 ° 4 ′ W ) |
| End of street: | Auchtertyre ( 57 ° 17 ′ N , 5 ° 35 ′ W ) |
| Overall length: | 51.8 km (32.2 mi ) |
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| The rockfall gallery on the south bank of Loch Carron | |
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Course of the road
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Map with all coordinates: The A890 road is an A-road in the Scottish Council Area Highland . It is part of a connection from the Scottish east coast near Inverness to the confluence with the A87 on the west coast near Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye . It is less busy than the southern connection on the north bank of Loch Ness from Inverness to Skye via the A82 , A887 and A87. On short stretches, the A890 is still designed as a single-track single track road .
course
In Achnasheen, the road branches off at a roundabout from the A832 heading west. Until shortly before Stromeferry it runs largely parallel to the Kyle of Lochalsh Line , the railway line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. First the road passes Loch Gowan . Then it leads in the valley of the River Carron north parallel to the railway through largely uninhabited forest and heather landscape of the Highlands, interrupted only by a few small settlements such as Achnashellach and Balnacra to the eastern end of Loch Carron , a bay on the west coast. At Achnashellach, parts of the road are laid out as a single-track road along Loch Dùghaill . Originally the A890 ran on the north bank of Loch Carron through the village of Lochcarron to Stromemore . From there a car ferry connected the A890 with Stromeferry on the south coast via the 700 m wide hole. In the early 1970s, the A890 was re-routed along the south bank until shortly before Stromeferry and the ferry connection was discontinued. Since then, the road branches off to the south just before Lochcarron. The section to Lochcarron was assigned to the A896 , which continues from there to the Applecross peninsula and to Torridon .
Shortly after the junction from the A890, the A896 crosses the River Carron and then crosses the railway line at Strathcarron station . The south bank of Loch Carron is a rocky cliff with very fragile rocks. The narrow bank strip is largely used by the railway line. The A890 therefore had to be routed in sections above the steep coast; between Strathcarron and Attadale it has considerable gradients. In the further course, the railway and road run together along the bank. This section is repeatedly endangered by falling rocks and landslides . For this reason, the railway and road were relocated to a rockfall gallery south of Attadale in 1990. Nevertheless, the mostly single-lane road here for lack of space had to be repeatedly closed in recent years and in some cases closed for months due to landslides, for example at Christmas 2012. A year earlier, the A890 had been provisionally led over the tracks of the railway line in December 2011 after a landslide . The spaces between the tracks were covered with rubber sheets. The road could only be opened again in April 2012. About one kilometer before the junction to Stromeferry, the A890 leaves the bank and the parallel railway line and, bypassing the village of Achmore, leads south on a two-lane section that has been rebuilt in recent years. The A890 joins the A87 near the small town of Auchtertyre on the north coast of Loch Alsh , about 10 kilometers east of Kyle of Lochalsh and 7 kilometers west of Dornie .
Between Achnasheen and the junction of the A896 at Strathcarron, the A890 is part of the North Coast 500 holiday route .
Planning
The repeated interruptions of the section from Strathcarron to Stromeferry by landslides and rockfalls - there were ten longer interruptions of up to four months between 1990 and 2012 alone - led to different plans for possible alternative routes. Due to the wide-meshed road network in the Highlands of A890 very long detours almost to the Scottish east coast at are at a blocking Beauly and Muir of Ord required, normally 29 km long drive from Lochcarron to Plockton , the location of the local secondary school , on extend around 225 kilometers.
Various solutions are under discussion. A basic variant is a bridge or a tunnel in the area of the former ferry connection over Loch Carron. The second planning option is a fundamental renovation in the current course, either by stabilizing the steep slope including the removal of larger rock masses or by widening the bank strip by embankment. The third option under discussion is a re-alignment to the south in the hinterland of the coast. The latter solution is rejected by the owner of the Attadale Estate concerned , who also does not consider the tour to be suitable for winter. The cost, depending on the variant, is estimated at up to £ 115 million . In 2013, the Highland Council commissioned a study to examine the problems and consequences of repeated closures and the possible expansion options in more detail. So far, however, no financially viable solution has been presented, so the Highland Council has asked the Scottish government for support and reduced the scope of the previous plans.
Individual evidence
- ↑ BBC News: Stromeferry bypass: A890 reopens after landslip , December 27, 2012 , accessed January 21, 2014
- ↑ a b The Scotsman: Stromeferry Bypass set for study over landslips , October 17, 2013 , accessed January 21, 2014
- ↑ northcoast500.com: Route map , accessed on February 27, 2020
- ↑ BBC Scotland: Landowner's concerns about re-routing A890 in Wester Ross, May 27, 2016 , accessed June 16, 2016
- ↑ BBC Scotland: Highland Council 'needs help funding Stromeferry bypass , June 8, 2015 , accessed June 15, 2016
- ↑ BBC Scotland: Stromeferry Bypass plans revised to reduce costs, February 11, 2016 , accessed June 15, 2016
