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Saturday, 6th September 2008

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Lesley Riddoch: A better road, a better railway, or is it a case of 'on your bike'?



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There is little sign of the improved transport links that could work wonders for the Highlands
SO, SCOTLAND'S transport minister wants to "progress proposals" for dualling 18 miles of the A9 between Perth and Pitlochry. The six miles to Dunkeld will be first and will create a "robust case" for dualling the rest. Surely a matter for Highland re...



The full article contains 925 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 09 March 2008 9:19 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Lesley Riddoch
 
1

Neil,

Glasgow 10/03/2008 11:34:46
" there were more audible complaints about traffic disruption in the capital than Highland residents being "cheated" of a safe route south"

Certainly they would be more audible sitting in Edinburgh. This is one of the effects of being a capital city - one we all properly object to when discussing why London is wealthy.
2

Isonomia,

Lenzie 10/03/2008 12:27:59
With oil running out, I fully expect in a couple of decades time to see the Scottish government proposing to reduce the M74 down to 2 lanes in an attempt to cope with the grass growing on the middle lane.

Whilst road building seems to be based on demand for roads, actual usage is based on the availability of oil and whilst everyone driving the A9 might want a dual carraigeway at a time of historic low energy prices, that road will be a white elephant unless some dramatic new source of oil lies undiscovered to keep out oil-based civilisation going for just a few more years
3

Jmhzx,

brighton 10/03/2008 13:16:24
Anything which relives the nightmare of the A9 and makes the highlands more accessible can only be good.

It takes 10 mins to drive between Dornoch and Tain - it can even be walked on a good day. the priority must be dualling the A9.
4

Seoras67,

Edinburgh 10/03/2008 15:23:40
As a regular user of the A9 I would agree that in the short to medium term the dualling of the whole stretch between Perth and Inverness is not urgently required. However, what is required is a gradual increse, (year on year, perhaps?) in the amount of the road that is dual carriageway. Certain bottlenecks exist where traffic builds up simply because it is impossible to overtake safely. There is a long stretch from several miles North of Aviemore to South of Dalwhinnie which only has a 1 mile stretch of dual carriageway. There are in addition a couple of short stretches with overtaking lanes, one for North bound traffic, one for South, between Newtonmore and just North of Kingussie. Dualling the stretch between Aviemore and Kingussie would help break up the traffic and alleviate the worst of the tailbacks. Work could then proceed, depending on cash, in dualling most, if not all, of the rest of the road between Perth and Inverness. it would also be good, again depending on availability of cash, if gradual improvements could be made to the train line. As always there is never enough money to do everything. At least some annual improvement would send out a positive messsage that the will does exist to improve transport connections to the North.
5

Neil,

Glasgow 10/03/2008 15:48:10
A reason given for a new Forth crossing is that reroping the ocurrent one would mean some closures & inconvenience.

On that basis surely we should not improve the A9 but just build a new 100 mile motorway on a direct North-South line between Inverness & Glasgow?
6

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 10/03/2008 15:55:30
Scotland, in comparison to England and Wales, has an inadequate road network. However, we are all part of Great Britain?

In 2007, the National Roads Authority of Ireland was awarded a budget of 1.53 billion Euros to complete the Republic's road network!

By 2014, the Celtic Tiger expects to complete its 2 and 3 lane European standard motorway and National dual carriageway network, along with numerous local bypassess and relief roads the length and breadth of the Island!

Scotland is part of the 5th largest economy in the world, yet, a former economic basket case like the Republic will soon have much better transport infrastructure?

In contrast to the Irish, previous administrations have utterly failed to provide Scotland with a modern
transport network to compete in the 21st Century?

The classic example of this failure is the still incomplete Central Scotland motorway network which was first commenced in 1962, over 45 years ago!

7

Neil,

Glasgow 10/03/2008 18:17:08
1.53 billion Euros is only 1/4 what we intend to spend on the Forth crossing. Of course we could do a tunnel for £40 million. The problem is not that we don't have the money but that we spend it so incredibly badly.
8

Murdoch,

Fort William 10/03/2008 22:48:27
The traffic levels on the A9 do not begin to justify dualling. There are for more important uses for the roads budget - how about the single track - with traffic lights section of the A82 for example? Or how about the A84 and A85? Inverness has boomed since the A9 was rebuilt (at a cost of £350million). There has been no significant improvement to West Highland roads since the 1930s! It's about time other parts of the highlands were given the same advantages as their "capital".

 

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