Construction on a £1.7 million sea wall to protect Fort William from high tides and flooding will begin next week.
Bear Scotland says the project is needed as the existing coastal defences along the A82 Achintore Road have suffered “severe undermining” from harsh conditions over the last year.
Poor weather from storms Brendan, Ciara and Dennis led to “large sections” of safety barriers and footpaths becoming unsteady.
Some emergency repair work to stabilise the embankment, and avoid the need for any lane closures and traffic management, took place last March.
Earlier this month the roads organisation carried out public consultations with local residents, businesses and Highland Council regarding future work.
And now a six-month project to install new measures and further cement the existing defences is due to start on Monday.
The work will require the demolition of one section of the existing coastal defence system, which will be replaced with almost 2,300ft of new protection measures along the shoreline.
Bear Scotland says this will strengthen the embankment and protect it from future erosion.
It will also allow for the creation of a wider footpath, improvements to the steps down to the shore and the installation of new safety barriers.
A similar project took place in the area in spring 2019 when 550 concrete blocks, each weighing 1.5 tonnes, were placed along the shoreline.
They were then covered in 1,200 tonnes of rock armour.
Eddie Ross, Bear Scotland’s north-wet representative, said: “This essential £1.7m upgrade to the coastal defence system on the A82 will address a section that has suffered significant deterioration, particularly after the storms of last winter.
“By undertaking works at the earliest opportunity, the integrity of the A82 at this location will be maintained avoiding disruptive reconstruction works to the trafficked carriageway.
“It is acknowledged that works of this nature can cause disruption.
“However, our teams will implement various measures, such as manually controlling the traffic signals and avoiding works over public holidays, to ensure delays are minimised.
“We would like to thank the local community for the feedback received during the consultation process and for taking the opportunity to work with us in planning how we deliver these essential works.
“We would also like to encourage motorists to plan ahead before setting out by checking the Traffic Scotland website for up to date travel information.”
Bear Scotland says temporary traffic lights will be in place on the A82 Achintore Road for the duration of the construction project.
However, they will be manually operated by workers during peak times to prevent any significant build-ups of traffic.
Teams will also focus on short lengths of the road at a time, to further minimise any disruption.
Additionally the organisation says, if Covid-19 travel restrictions are eased by the Easter Weekend and 2021 Scottish Six Days Trial motorcycle event in the first week of May, the traffic lights will be removed to ease congestion.
