A9 dual carriageway delay: SNP dithering will see more lives lost on this killer road – Murdo Fraser

Being married to a teacher, I am well used to hearing the inventive line in excuses used by pupils for not handing in their homework on time.

The claim “the dog ate my homework” may be apocryphal, but some of the other real-life examples are just as unconvincing: “I didn’t have a pencil in the house” or “The cat was sleeping on top of the jotter and I didn’t want to disturb her”. Finding excuses for our failures is something we learn at an early age.

One would hope, however, that we all get to a point where we start to take responsibility for our actions and realise that absurd excuses just leave us looking like we have no credibility. Perhaps not. Last week our transport minister, Jenny Gilruth, told the Scottish Parliament why the SNP commitment to complete the dualling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness by 2025 would not be delivered.

In a long list of excuses, blame was placed variously on Brexit, the Covid pandemic, and – ludicrously – Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine, and Liz Truss for her mini-budget. The one party in this who, it seems, bears no responsibility whatsoever is the Scottish Government itself.

It is fair to say this statement was greeted with a mixture of ridicule and horror on all sides, and not just from opposition parties. Community groups and road safety campaigners in the Highlands and in Perthshire, many of whom have seen loved ones lost in accidents on Scotland’s killer road, reacted with outrage and dismay at the latest news.

It was back in 2007 that the SNP were first elected with a manifesto commitment to complete the A9 dualling project. This commitment was reaffirmed in 2011, when the timetable for the works to commence in 2015 and be completed by 2025 was confirmed. Since then, we have seen just over ten miles of dual carriageway completed out of a total of 80, leaving nearly 70 still to be progressed.

What we heard last week was that the next section that was due to be built, from Tomatin to Moy in the Highlands, will not now be proceeding for the time being as there was only one tenderer for the contract, and the price they proposed was deemed unacceptable. The project will go out for retender in due course, but there is unlikely to be any definitive progress until at least the end of this calendar year.

This all means that the 2025 completion date, already unrealistic, has now been ditched entirely, with no new date having been set. It is not surprising, therefore, that many questions are being asked as to whether this project will in fact ever be advanced.

The A9 alternates between dual and single carriageway, which drivers unfamiliar with the road may find confusing (Picture: John Devlin)

Some have questioned whether the involvement of the anti-road Greens in government is actually behind this latest instalment of foot-dragging. I suspect the answer is a simpler one: SNP incompetence.

Whilst Covid undoubtedly has caused delays for construction projects everywhere, and we have seen substantial price inflation in the sector driven by a shortage of materials post-pandemic, there does seem to be a particular issue affecting the procurement of Scottish Government contracts. There is no evidence that public sector contracts in other parts of the United Kingdom are facing the same challenges as we have just seen in relation to the Tomatin to Moy section of the A9.

Last week in parliament, the former Scottish Government minister, Fergus Ewing, raised his concern that the model of contract being used by the Scottish Government, whereby contractors assume all risks for third-party events, actively deters companies from bidding. If that is indeed the case, it is a matter that needs to be thoroughly investigated and, if necessary, put right.

In the meantime, communities across Perthshire and the Highlands, and regular users of the A9, have to live with the consequences of the latest delay in constructing the new dual-carriageway sections. Already the death rate on the A9 is unacceptable. In the course of 2022, there were no fewer than 12 deaths on single-carriageway sections of the road, mostly caused by vehicles drifting across the central line.

There is ample evidence that shows that dual carriageways, with a central barrier, are many times safer than single carriageways. There is also a particular element that applies on the A9 where the current configuration of road switches between dual and single carriageways, often causing driver confusion, particularly for those not familiar with the route.

Given that this is a major arterial tourist road, carrying many visitors to Scotland already unfamiliar with driving on the left, it is not surprising that we see so many serious and fatal accidents occurring. It will only be by making the road up to a dual carriageway that we will see a significant reduction in the number of deaths.

The sad fact is that the latest delay to progress this project will mean more deaths this year, next year, and each year thereafter. And, however the SNP government tries to spin this, the ultimate responsibility has to come back to their door for not adequately progressing the dualling project when they should have done. Even if Covid has been a factor, not enough work was being done prior to the pandemic to ensure the 2025 deadline would be met.

The SNP’s book of incredible excuses would embarrass any nine-year-old school child. Tragically, however, this is no laughing matter.

For the communities of the Highlands and Perthshire, when the next fatal accident claims lives I doubt the name Putin will be front of mind. Or Truss. The blame will be placed firmly where it deserves to be: with our current crop of SNP politicians and their predecessors.

Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife