ENGINEERS have found a solution to a notorious accident blackspot between Peebles and Innerleithen.

And the local authority has agreed to fund the £2.5 million scheme as part of its capital budget.

For more than a decade campaigners have demanded improvement work at Dirtpot Corner.

A biker was killed at the A72 bend in 2011 and many more have been seriously injured with crashes being reported at least monthly.

A number of landslides at Dirtpot have also led to lengthy road closures, which causes chaos on the only alternative B road detour through Cardrona and Traquair.

Around £750,000 has already been spent on pinning and securing the slope above the carriageway.

But now a realignment programme has been established to widen the road and take away the severity of the narrow corner.

Despite tightening budgets across all departments of Scottish Borders Council, the £2.5 million scheme will be delivered over the next two financial years.

Preparation and consultation work will continue throughout this year.

And engineers will be on site during 2018 to widen and realign the road.

Council leader David Parker made the pledge yesterday (Thursday) that the Dirtpot Corner scheme will be completed during the 2018/19 financial year.

Councillor Parker told the Peeblesshire News: "Our officers have been working tirelessly to find a permanent solution to Dirtpot Corner and they have come up with a scheme that will give us a proper road where vehicles will be able to drive past each other.

"The slope above Dirtpot Corner is stable but we now need to stabilise the rock beneath the road.

"This will be done at the same time as the road is widened and realigned."

A consultation process will begin later this year with details of the planned improvements being presented to communities throughout the Tweed Valley.

Exact dates for the extensive work, which will mean a closure of the A72, are still to be finalised.

Councillor Parker added: "There will be a lot of disruption but these are the type of things we'll discuss during the consultation process.

"From what I understand, there is a bit of flexibility about when the job can be done."

Although accidents were a reasonably common occurrence earlier, a major landslide in 2003, which saw the road closed for six weeks, led to the first calls for major improvements.

Councillors, other politicians and community groups have continued to press for a permanent solution.

Minor improvements have been carried out with better signage and the cutting back of trees to improve vision, but the accidents have continued.

Tweeddale East councillor Stuart Bell is delighted that a realignment programme has now been devised - and funded.

Councillor Bell told us: "I am really pleased that following a thorough review by our roads engineers we now have a financially feasible design for a solution to the remaining problem of Dirtpot Corner.

"This section of the A72 has been a challenge for road users for decades and whilst past work has pinned the slope above the road and stopped it slipping, there remained a safety challenge.

“Basically the corner is too narrow for two large vehicles to safely pass and the narrowing means that any slight error can turn into a collision, either with another vehicle or with the roadside walls.

"This problem seems to have been a contributory cause behind some recent accidents, and indeed the parapet of the wall above the river is in need of repair.

"I understand that the roads engineers, following extensive on-site investigations, now have a design that will widen the road, give some safety room and better secure the wall above the river.

"It seems that their design is expected to cost less than the amount which has been budgeted until now, but gives a clear route to making this corner safer."

Full details of the realignment scheme will be presented to community councils and the Tweeddale Area Forum throughout the spring.

Councillor Bell added: "Given the pressures on SBC Budgets this is good news for users of the A72 in Tweeddale!"