Transport secretary Jenny Gilruth confirms that dualling the A96 will go ahead and the A9 will get safety improvements amid a rising number of fatalities

Both the A9 and A96 will be dualled with the former receiving safety upgrades in the near future – that is according to the Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth ahead of chairing the A9 safety group in Pitlochry tomorrow.

There she will meet with partners from the Scottish Government’s roads operating company, Police Scotland, the road haulage and freight transport associations, local authorities and the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

Considerable concerns have been voiced about the SNP’s commitment to the projects after the party invited the Greens – who are against both developments – into government.

But pressure has been ramped up lately due to the rising number of fatalities on the A9 and what some see as the impossibility of concluding the dualling programme by the deadline of 2025.

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Ms Gilruth has already recently met with Police Scotland in Inverness about the number of accidents “to better understand the increase in fatal accidents and the underlying contributory factors.”

She was speaking during a motion brought by the Scottish Conservatives recognising “with alarm the number of recent fatalities on the A9 and A96” and that “fully dualling both roads could lead to a significant improvement in road safety.”

She said: “To date, in 2022, 10 fatal injury accidents have been recorded on the A9 trunk road, with 15 fatal casualties. Of the 10 fatal accidents, seven occurred between Perth and Inverness, resulting in 12 fatal casualties.

“To compare that with previous years, there was only one fatal accident between Perth and Inverness in each year of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Every death on the A9—or any of Scotland’s roads—is one too many.”

Safety of motorists on the A9

On that note, the transport secretary confirmed that “This year, we will make further investments to improve safety at Ballinluig, Bruar and Ralia. However, I accept that more will need to be done before full dualling is complete.”

However, in a significant move, she explicitly confirmed that the dualling would also go ahead with the Inverness to Nairn section to be completed first with the first orders issues within “weeks”.

“We also continue the preparation for the dualling of the Inverness to Nairn section, which is quite a different section of the route,” she said.

“Members might recall that it has already received ministerial consent following a public local inquiry, and I expect to be able to make the orders on that part of the A96 in the coming weeks.

“Earlier this year, I was pleased to meet the constituency MSP and MP in Nairn, and to meet local school children at Rosebank primary school. The playground of the primary school borders the A96, and the pupils explained to me what that means for their learning, outdoor play and environment.

“Therefore, it is imperative that we deliver on these road improvements for local communities, particularly, in my view, for the generations yet to come.”

Mixed reaction – welcome news but timescales needed

Responding to the news, Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing said: "The ministers statement that she 'expects to make orders' in the coming weeks is excellent news.

"This is the next step in the process. After orders are granted the project can advance to procurement.

"I will continue to raise this in Holyrood as I did in a speech yesterday but am grateful to the minister for the commitment she has shown and to her officials for their diligent work in what is of necessity a complex process."

However, MSP Edward Mountain said: “I’m extremely disappointed that despite the Transport Minister’s confirmation that works will proceed on the A9, we still don’t know when.

"What is clear is that the SNP will fail to deliver on the promise to have it fully dualled by 2025.

“There was slightly better news when it came to the A96. The dualling of the section from Inverness to Nairn is set to go ahead, but the rest of the route remains under review thanks to the SNP’s coalition deal with the anti-motorist Green Party.

“Instead of hiding behind Patrick Harvie, the Transport Minister should be more upfront with Highlanders about the future of the A9 and A96 dualling programmes. It would be simply unacceptable if the upgrades suffer from further delays or are downsized in scope.”

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