MSP slams sub-standard A83 as ‘Cinderella road’

A LIFELINE link to the Highlands has been branded Scotland’s Cinderella road and likened to routes in third world countries.

Civil engineers work to clear a landslip from the A83. Picture: Robert Perry

Politicians have demanded action to improve the A82 and claim it is treated as the poor relation to the notorious A9 when it comes to investment.

Campaigners say some stretches of the main Glasgow-Oban-Fort William-Inverness road are in such poor condition that the speed limit has been reduced from 60mph to 50mph.

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Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Dave Stewart now wants urgent talks with Scottish Government Transport Minister Keith Brown.

And he warned that the north economy could be badly damaged if nothing is done.

The government has spent “2.5 million installing controversial average-speed cameras on the A9 between Inverness and Perth and will invest £3 billion dualling the route by 2025.

Mr Stewart said: “When it comes to investment, it’s clear that the A82, like Cinderella, is the poor relation to other key routes for travellers in Scotland and the Highlands.

“Significant investment is needed to upgrade the road to a standard appropriate to its lifeline status for Lochaber and Argyll.”

He added: “The current approach of simply adding restrictions to sections of the route is quite inadequate if we are to have a safe and efficient main trunk road for the west Highlands.

“Towns and communities here are already significantly disadvantaged by geography.

“The standard of the A82 only compounds the issues of cost and time they face just to stay and to do business here.”

Mr Stewart welcomed Transport Scotland’s commitment to improving certain sections of the road.

But he stressed: “The route desperately needs improvement to allow safe and efficient movement of traffic and to cut travel times.

“We need to see that ambition and action from Transport Scotland, to end the A82’s Cinderella status.”

The MSP said the A82 suffered from a lack of investment compared with the A9.

He added: “It is valid to make these comparisons,

“The A82 is a vital road used by tourists, the business community and local people.

“There have been lots of frustrations about accident rates and landslides recently.

“I will be asking Transport Scotland to look very seriously at the longer-term plans for the A82 so that they can redress the balance.

“Of course it is important to dual the A9, but we have got to ensure we don’t forget about other vital arteries.”

Lochaber councillor Brian Murphy said: “You could be forgiven for thinking you were in a third world country in some parts of the west Highlands when you see the state of the road.

“About two-thirds of the A82 is substandard.

“We want to get the whole road upgraded, just single carriageway.

“For years the road has been starved of investment.”

Campaign group the A82 Partnership said Transport Scotland was spending POUNDS 3 billion dualling the A9 but had spent an average of only POUNDS 8 million a year on the A82 over the past decade.

The partnership’s Stewart MacLean said: “At this rate it would take 375 years to spend the same amount as the A9 on the A82.

“We fully support Mr Stewart’s statement.

“There are three sections which have been downgraded to 50 mph speed limits because of the quality of the road.

“The priorities have to swing to the west coast.”

A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “We understand the importance of the A82 to communities and we are in regular discussion with them about our plans for the maintenance of the route, with £57 million invested since 2007.

“We are taking forward work to improve the route between Tarbet and Inverarnan, with ground investigations taking place over the next couple of months to help inform the ongoing work to design a preferred route by next summer.”

She said work was also continuing on the £9.2 million scheme at Pulpit Rock to remove the bottleneck and on the construction of the £5 million A82 Crianlarich bypass.

SEE ALSO

• Funding announced for A83 to reduce landslide risk

• Rest and Be Thankful landslip ‘biggest ever’

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