SSEN Transmission confirms A832 to remain open during essential roadworks

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  • The A832 will remain open to traffic during the day as part of essential roadworks taking place ahead of the installation of the proposed Western Isles HVDC cable.   

It follows a previous proposal that would have seen a 4.7km section of the route closed to traffic during scheduled work days, with daily access periods in place.  Following feedback from local communities and their elected members, we pledged to seek alternative solutions that would minimise impacts while allowing the work to be delivered safely, postponing the start date for the proposed works until January.  

Under the new proposals which are expected to last for a period of 18 months from mid-January, we, along with our contractors will: 

  • Operate a daytime single-lane closure on short sections of the road to allow for the replacement or upgrading of culverts along the cable route. Traffic management will be in operation, and the affected distance will be approximately 200 metres at a time. 
     
  • Operate a full night-time closure for several weeks in summer 2026, to allow for essential culvert replacement work that cannot be safely delivered without a full closure. During this period, the previously proposed diversion via Gairloch will be in place.  

Separate ducting and trenching works, to take place immediately following the completion of culvert works, are expected to take around 18 months and will also be conducted under a single lane closure with traffic management. The news comes ahead of two public engagement events taking place later this month, where we will share detailed information on our revised proposals, including proposed timings.  

Details of the events are as follows:   

  • Monday, 27 October (6-8pm) Aultbea Hall, Aultbea, IV22 2JR  
  • Tuesday, 28 October (6-8pm) Badcaul Church, Dundonnell, IV23 2QY  

Niall Macleod, Project Director for SSEN Transmission, said:  

“We’d like to thank all those who kindly took the time to provided feedback to our initial proposals, which we have responded to with revised plans that will allow us to deliver this essential work safely while minimising impacts on the local community and other road users. Public engagement is a key part of our project development process, and I hope our new proposals demonstrate our willingness to act on feedback, balancing the views of communities alongside the need for this project which is playing a key role in unlocking the vast renewable energy potential of the Western Isles. We are fully committed to ongoing engagement with road users, local communities and stakeholders as part of this project.  We look forward to our forthcoming engagement events taking place later this month which will allow our project team to present our revised proposals in more detail, while gathering additional feedback.”