Tramway suggested as solution to Stromeferry Bypass

The bypass has been vulnerable to rockfalls in recent years

Highland Council is re-examining the potential for road and rail traffic to share the same space at Stromeferry in Wester Ross in the form of a tramway.

The local authority has been seeking a solution to the 1960s-built Stromeferry Bypass, which has had problems with landslides.

It has been closed by 10 significant rock falls between 1990 and 2012.

The council is looking at how the nearby, less badly affected, railway could be adapted.

Using the railway has been considered, but ruled out, before.

But Highland Council has now suggested that it could be turned into a tramway, meaning it would have track and also a surface suitable for road traffic.

Colin Howell, the local authority's head of infrastructure, said cost-effective rolling stock had been identified, but added that the idea was still to be fully explored.

A tunnel

The Stromeferry Bypass is on the A890 which helps to connect Lochcarron to Plockton, and its high school, and eventually with Kyle, on the opposite side of Loch Carron.

The road runs across the top of the sea loch to link up with the A896, the main road to Lochcarron.

When the bypass is closed, drivers face having to take a 140-mile (225km) diversion, instead of the usual 18 miles (29km) from Lochcarron to Plockton.

After a landslide in December 2011 the bypass was shut for four months.

Solutions to the problem include re-routing the road at an estimated cost of £85m, a bridge costing about £100m and a tunnel costing about £171m.