The main link road between Glasgow and Fort William is likely to be closed for road works during most of the first four months of 2012 raising fears for the future of the Glencoe ski centre. The planned work will mean the road is closed at the bottleneck at Pulpit Rock on the side of Loch Lomond north of Tarbert and a very long diversion will be in place over the Rest and be Thankful to Arrochar and Inverary. The section of upgraded A82 will include a short section of viaduct over an inlet of Loch Lomond and will mean the end to the temporary traffic lights which regularly cause queues.
However the planned winter closure which is likely to start mid January 2012 has caused alarm at Glencoe Mountain, where winter skiing is the main commercial venture. Andy Meldrum who leads the Community Interest Company which runs the ski centre commented that the proposed 14 closure could mean the “death of skiiing at Glencoe”. Glencoe Mountain estimates that 70% of its winter visitors are day trippers from the Glasgow area. The diversion is likely to add 50 minutes to the journey to Glencoe which would put Glencoe in competition with Glen Shee and even Cairngorm in terms of travel times. The start date for the road works has yet to be officially announced.