Motorists using a major Highland route will face further delays next week when trees blown over by storms earlier this month are cleared from the hillside.
Forestry Commission Scotland has warned drivers on the A82 Inverness to Fort William road that traffic lights will be in place at Loch Lochy in Lochaber from Monday.
Alex Macleod, who is managing the commission’s A82 project, said: “This is a safety measure to ensure that trees blown over on the edges of the forest are safely taken down before they cause any further damage – or even injury.
“We will be working with Scottish and Southern Energy on this operation, given some of the affected trees are near an overhead power line.
“We have also liaised closely with Transport Scotland and Bear Scotland to ensure the inconvenience to road users is minimised as much as possible.”
He added that the team carrying out the work, which will be at two separate locations to the north of the Corriegour Lodge Hotel, anticipated that it would be completed within the week.
Mr Macleod said: “This is an additional pressure on our staff and on the resources at our disposal, but it is one of those things that have to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
“While we’re clearing these trees, we will be continuing with our slope stability works at Glen Righ.
“The Loch Lochy site will be fully clear felled later this year after we have replaced and repaired some forest road bridges required to access the site.”