The A830 Road to the Isles was closed for around 45 minutes yesterday (Monday) after a van crashed into a building.
The incident at Corpach, near Fort William in Lochaber, happened at around 4pm and closed the road next to the popular Treasures of the Earth tourist attraction during the afternoon rush hour.
A witness said a white Ford Transit van left the carriageway and hit the side of a shed next to the Corpach Hotel, which is alongside the busy Fort William to Mallaig trunk road.
He said there were initially four police cars at the scene and long tailbacks of traffic built up in both directions.
Another local man, who did not want to be named, said he had heard that the driver suffered a heart attack.
He said: “The van hit the pavement on the opposite side of the road from the hotel and went across the road into the wooden garage by the hotel. It has damaged the doors of the garage.
“There must have been 200-300 cars, lorries and vans held up while the road was closed.
“I’m told the queue went all the way back to Fort William.”
The road reopened at around 4.45pm.
A police spokeswoman said the incident was not thought to be serious, but was unable to provide any details.
Meanwhile a cyclist was airlifted to hospital after a collision involving a car near Lochinver yesterday afternoon.
Not many details were known of the cyclist’s condition last night but a police spokeswoman confirmed that they were “conscious and breathing” as emergency services arrived at the scene.
The casualty was transferred by air ambulance to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
The incident happened north of Lochinver on the B869 just before 12pm.
And a crash involving a lorry on the A96 near Inverness caused massive rush hour delays yesterday.
The accident blocked the Inverness to Aberdeen road at Allanfearn between the Culloden roundabout and the Balloch junction at about 3.30pm.
The lorry collided with a Volvo estate car and came to rest across the carriageway of the busy trunk road.
A police spokeswoman said that nobody had been injured in the accident.
However, the lorry had to be recovered and prevented traffic from passing for nearly an hour before it could be moved.
