Million pound improvement works to the Dornoch Firth Bridge that are nearing the halfway mark will lead to an overnight road closure later this month.
Parapet replacement works have almost finished on the west side of the bridge and now need to move to the east.
To continue operations the team need to re-establish a temporary safety barrier next to the carriageway that will protect both drivers and workers.
BEAR Scotland’s North West Representative, Eddie Ross, said: “We need to move the traffic management to the other side of the structure and an overnight closure is required for us to safely carry this out.
Mr Ross said: “We’ve scheduled the closure to take place overnight on a Sunday when traffic flows are generally lower.”
He added: “The teams will do all they can to carry out the traffic management switch as quickly and safely as possible.”
The road closure and diversion will take effect from 7pm until 7am on December 17 so the £1m upgrade of the 900 metre structure can go ahead.
The diversion route will take traffic via the A836 through Bonar Bridge and the A949 adding an estimated 30 minutes to journey time.
During that time emergency services may be able to cross the bridge if it is considered safe by site managers and pedestrians and cyclists will be escorted.
After the re-set of the protective barrier both lanes of the A9 will be reopened while and likely remain open for the majority of the bridge improvements.