The A82 south of Fort William will be reopened until 3pm. Photo: Steven Brown CC-BY-SA-2.0

A road leading into a Highland town that was cut off for much of yesterday due to storm damage is being reopened today for three hours.

Anyone wanting to head into or out of Fort William on the A82 south of the town has until 3pm to make their journey.

Highland Constabulary said a controlled, partial opening of the main route south will take place near Corran Ferry before it is closed again completely to allow the planned removal of a dangerous 200-tonne rock.

The road was closed yesterday after a landslip.

The planned work by the Forestry Commission will mean the total closure of the road until 6am on Monday.

The A82 was reopened at noon today and will remain passable until 3pm.

The work, at Glen Regh, will involve removal of the large boulder, which is threatening the safety of road travellers.

Mike Green, the commission’s project manager said: “This will provide enough time for a protective covering to be placed on the road below the rock, the rock to be released from the hill-side in a controlled manner, then broken up and taken away.

“We appreciate that closing the road over the weekend is going to inconvenience a lot of people, so we will be working every minute of every hour to remove and clear up the rock and open the road again.”