The Highland Council will introduce a car and a passenger ferry service between North and South Strome on Monday to combat the impact of the closure of the A 890 Lochcarron - Kyle/Plockton road due to the danger of rockfalls. The timetables for the two ferry services, which will have connecting buses, will be confirmed on Friday. The services will be free.
The ferries are needed as the indication is that the road will remain closed for another month.
The Council plans to ferry school children and commuters on a 61-passenger ferry, the Sula Mhor, a cruise boat which operates out of Plockton during the summer months.
Its first run in the morning will be exclusive to school children from the Lochcarron and Applecross areas, who attend Plockton High School. There will be further services for commuters. It is intended to run the passenger service Monday - Friday, with the possibility of a limited service on Saturdays.
It is also proposed to introduce the six-car turntable ferry, which is based at Glenelg, on Monday. It will shuttle between North and South Strome - a 10-minutge crossing - initially between 9 am and 5 pm each day of the week.
The Council is stressing that this ferry has limited capacity, being restricted to 6 cars and 12 passengers per journey and with a weight restriction of 10 tonnes.
Given the capacity limitation, the Council will be operating a priority system for travel, with emergency services, local utilities and local people having priority. At Lochcarron, cars will be mustered at the Golf Club car park. At South Strome, cars will be stacked on the approaches to South Strome.
Commuters from Dingwall, Inverness and further afield are asked to continue to use the diversion via the A 82 and A 87.
Meanwhile, pupils from the Lochcarron area are travelling to school by train all this week.
A Council spokesman said: "The indications are that the road, which has been closed since 22 December, will have to remain closed for at least another month in the interests of safety. We are in discussions with Network Rail to provide a diversion on the railway line, using sleepers, but this will take up to a month to put in place. This work will be a priority element of a wider contract we hope to let within the next couple of weeks for short-term remedial work. Our only other option is to provide a ferry service and plans are well advanced to introduce this on Monday 16 January.
"Due to the slipways at North and South Strome, there is a restriction on the type of ferry we can use and a six-car ferry has limited capacity. That is why we need to introduce a priority usage system, with emergency services and local utilities/people being given priority.
"We hope the public will appreciate that this service is very much to help the local community, who are feeling the effects of the road closure the hardest."