Speed up A9 dualling work, says MSP

By ALASTAIR DALTON
Published on Wednesday 25 January 2012 00:00

MINISTERS were yesterday accused of working at a “snail’s pace” towards their 13-year target of dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness.

The criticism came as they announced that plans for the next 11-mile stretch of dual carriageway would be unveiled next week - four years after design work began.

No date has been set for completing the £200 million section, from Luncarty, north of Perth, to Jubilee bridge, north of Dunkeld. The SNP has pledged to dual the entire 117-mile route to Inverness by 2025, at a cost of some £3 billion.

Mid Scotland and Fife Labour MSP Richard Simpson said: “Progress on the A9 seems to be moving at a snail’s pace under the SNP.”

Transport Scotland said that the time taken for the latest work was to ensure “the best solution for all concerned”.

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Kobi

Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 06:09 PM

#1 But the SNP Scottish Executive claimed at the time that the money for the trams did not impact on dualling the A9, as the money was from separate budgets. You wouldn't be an SNP supporter trying to rewrite history now would you?

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Neil Waugh

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 03:02 PM

If Alex Salmond is smart, and he definitely is, part of the roll-out for the referendum will include a set of public works timetables....One continuing under Smarmy Dave's Westminster North Sea oil siphon....And another under the independence model where the Scottish Parliament and people gain control over their natural resource revenues....The A9 dualling will feature large in that scenario...You read it here first....But not last.....It will also be something that creepy Ricky Simpson will find a thousand ways to oppose.

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RON URQ.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 05:29 PM

Several trillion pounds of revenue extracted from Scottish waters, yet still we have less motorway in Scotland than the M25 london circular. and not much dual carriageway either. Inverness to Perth 104 miles how much of that is duel- less than 15 miles ? And you can't blame the s.n.p. untill last year Labour were in a coallition with them and they forced the tram on us.

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Danielrober2

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 04:14 PM

This community deserves a quicker road delivery and at a more realist price. For the quoted cost it could be possible to build an American super-highway.

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mahatmacoat

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:09 AM

#1..The money for the trams was already in place - along with that for EARL..The SNP had a choice, trams or EARL.. what did they do with the EARL money? BTW The M9 never came into it..how about introducing the A1 into the discussion?

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2

HMNP

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 01:11 AM

Yes #1, that is the kind of behavior that is to be expected of the union Jack Jocks, playing to the gallery as per usual. I worked on the initial A9 upgrade & it was a quite deliberate decision by Westminster not to dual the road when that was when all the major rock blasting through the Highlands was taking place. After all, they didn't want Scotland having good transport infrastructure when Oil & Gas was starting to come on line. Anything but make Scotland a competitive business friendly country that has a balanced transport setup, they might want to do things alone!

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druidh

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:28 AM

Is this the same Labour MSP Richard Simpson who voted to force the first SNP Government to spend the money allocated for the A9 on the Edinburgh Trams?

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