Crowriver wrong on A82 and wrong on 2-3 DAYS to complete route. Remember I used to live & work from Inverness and cover rail routes which required using parts of Great Glen to get to them. I also did some of the early Sustrans work updating the mid 1980's surveys. As noted later round the Loch (Ness) = 6 hours and you'll easily do Inverness to Gairlochy in a day - so the extra bit to Fort William could be a pretty full day's riding - especially as you can do most of this on the canal (level with fine downhill on Neptune's Staircase to Banavie).
Letter in The Herald on Friday outlines a lot but essentially a key section lacking in a rideable route for touring is Loch Oich, where the disused railway and 1726 road run along the South Shore and the A82 on the North one - the road and railway being abandoned for at least 80 years, and in great disrepair. From Invergarry a cul de sac single track road connects at one end of the forestry road that connects back to another cul de sac at Achnacarry and goes via Gairlochy and the option to use the canal towpath right through to Banavie, already rideable with a good touring bike.
Around the Loch (Ness) was reckoned to be a 6 hour trip , and we used the 1726 or 1732 'military' roads for the South 'shore'. The 1726 road actually gets no sight of Loch Ness, as it runs very straight at high level from Errogie to Whitebridge and Loch Tarff, before dropping at 1 in 4 down Glen Doe - but it is very nice to ride, aside from the stiff hill at Glen Doe and switchback along the lochside to Foyers on 1732 road (which can be side-stepped through Glen Lia)
I think the press release misspelled Corron for Corran ferry but I reckon that the link needs to be sorted from Ballachulish (Onich) rather than just the Northern section, and note that the old military road takes a route further inland and may offer an option to reach Loch Leven and options to follow the shoreline via Kinlochleven and Glencoe village rather than the direct crossing on the Ballachulish Bridge.
The Northern section of the original 'cycle route' is a bit of a joke for a leisurely touring option as the gorge which is the fault-line rises over 600 feet above the loch and the converted forestry roads and a few minor roads to places like Abriachan offer fantastic views but massively steep descents to cross Glen Urquhart and Glen Morriston, with correspondingly fierce climbs on the opposite side - all on standard forestry roads - created from locally excavated materials (ie 'nominally' drybound macadam)
Don't pin everything on the rail service carrying bikes, more capacity is available on coach services* to Inverness, Fort William, Oban and Lochgilphead (or even from Cloanaig for those who really want to do the route from South to North). Scotrail also already has a set-up for bike hire at Oban, Fort Bill, and Inverness, allowing for 1-way trips, although at present this is mainly MTB rather than touring bikes.
*Packed properly up to 10 bikes can fit in the underfloor hold of a 50-seat coach compared to 4 -6 roll-on bikes on a 140 seat train, although dismantled and packed bikes can also add to the number of bikes carried by train. As a coach is 2.55m wide it should be possible to fit a tandem across the width of the luggage hold on a modern monocoque vehicle - I'm chasing that one up, but given the size and space issue it may be a special booking detail with the coach operator.
So summing up I think I can see why it is a £3m project, but would suggest that a good quality surface built with locally won material is a better value prospect that the high carbon footprint of laying tarmac (but very few contractors are competent to build a good drybound road, and the maintenance regime needs strict control of the use of motor vehicles on the surface, and diligent control of overhanging vegetation). the package of building as to be supported by an equal package of public transport linking-up, and bike hire/servicing, and we need to actually measure the current position to be both certain of the results from the investment, and clear on where the detail of connections and facilities need to be provided as the project is delivered.
Would love to be involved - where do I apply?
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