Nothing about the A9 dualling project suggests momentum

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

A promise to fully dual the single carriageway between Perth and Inverness by 2025 was first made in the SNP's 2007 manifesto, with plans to widen around 80 miles of road in 11 sections formally set out in 2011.
However, little more than 11 miles – in just two sections –were dualled in 12 years.
Six miles of the trunk road from Moy to Tomatin, south of Inverness, are currently being upgraded under a £185 million contract.
In 2023, the Scottish Government admitted the dualling would now not be completed until 2035 at the earliest.
However, that didn't stop Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop taking hyperbole to new heights with the latest pronouncement on the A9.
She announced that a contract for the dualling of a fourth section of the road is due to be awarded imminently.
Transport Scotland announced on Friday that Wills Bros Civil Engineering was the preferred bidder in the £152.7m deal to dual the road between Tay Crossing and Ballinluig.
The government has planned to upgrade the road – one of Scotland's most dangerous – for more than a decade, with the work initially due to be complete this year.
But it has since been pushed back to 2035.According to Transport Scotland, the section will be complete in 2028, with 45% of the A9 between Perth and Inverness to be dualled by that time.
I have walked amongst Scotland's largest seagulls - and they are a menace
It is high time that irresponsible campervan users are taxed off the NC500
Alan Simpson: Giving CalMac contract is right - now give them better ships
Alan Simpson: The new £144m electric rail line without enough trains
The Transport Secretary said the announcement showed the 'continued momentum' of the project.
"In addition to the improvements delivered through dualling, this investment will provide lasting social value to the communities and businesses local to these areas,' she said.
'We have seen already how contractors across the programme are making a positive impact through our social value programme, and I look forward to seeing further benefits delivered in the construction of this section.
'This is the second contract to be awarded since our delivery plan for A9 dualling was announced in 2023, and clearly demonstrates that we are delivering on our promises.
'The receipt of three valid tenders during this procurement process means that we can also be confident that our investment in this A9 dualling contract demonstrates value for money, and that the changes we have made to our contracts in recent years are making a real difference.
'We are achieving the targets we have laid out, and making steady progress across the corridor to ensure that the full route between Perth and Inverness is dualled by 2035.'
While this is welcome news, to call it 'continued momentum' is a stretch and a bit of an insult to the hard-pressed regular users of the road.
There is simply nothing that screams momentum about the A9, whether it be the glacial pace of dualling or getting stuck behind a lorry on the many single carriageway sections.
Ms Hyslop also takes the biscuit for announcing that an announcement is imminent.
That isn't really an announcement at all but perhaps shows the desperation among ministers to try to show that work is at least progressing.
But just two sections of single carriageway, totalling about 11 miles (18km) of road have been upgraded over the past decade.
About 77 miles (124km) have still to be improved as part of the £3 billion project, which will extend from Inverness to Perth.
Delays and rising costs have repeatedly hit the dualling upgrades, which were initially scheduled to be completed this year.
Why it is being done in sections is beyond me – surely a firm should just get the contract to build the whole lot, rather than handing out projects that seem to be by the yard.
Earlier this year, the much-maligned quango Transport Scotland apparently rewrote the laws of physics by claiming that accelerating the dualling will not save any time on the project.
In a report, the quango said it had explored whether some sections should be speeded up on safety grounds, or where lengthy diversions could be put in place, should the road be closed.
It said it had considered introducing 'overlapping' construction on the carriageway to speed up the project.
It also suggested rescheduling the planned programme of work around the areas of the road deemed to be least safe.
However, it said its findings revealed that current scheduling 'achieves an earlier overall completion date than would be achieved were it to be rescheduled'.
In the meantime, more than 300 people have been injured in car crashes on the A9 over the past four years, recent figures revealed.
According to the figures, 28 people were killed between 2021-22 and 2024-25, including 13 in 2022-23 alone.
There were 321 collisions resulting in injury during that period, 134 of which were considered serious and 159 classed as minor.
Of course, the fact that much of it is still single carriageway will not be a contributory factor in every crash, but every one should be a stark reminder to the Scottish Government of the pressing need for an upgrade.
But given the track record of Transport Scotland and successive governments, we shouldn't hold our breath.
The A75 urgently needs upgraded as does the A96 and the A82.
It is easy to think that they all remain in poor condition in poor condition because they are all in rural areas, miles away from the glare of Holyrood.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Compare this to when the Forth Road Bridge fell into disrepair – a sparkling new crossing was delivered on time and on budget, and fairly quickly too.
Only a cynic could suggest this happened because the bridge carries the main road into Edinburgh and many in the capital have holiday homes in the East Neuk of Fife.
Transport infrastructure projects always seem to be a problem under a quango that orders ferries that are too big for ports and electrifying railway lines without ordering enough electric trains.
In other European countries, roads seem to get built in one fell swoop rather in bits and pieces like here in Scotland.
This leads to inevitable cost overruns and delays which adds millions more to the bill which on the face of it seems unnecessary.
The more contracts that are handed out, the more can go wrong. So, surely, it would be sensible to award less.
But sense seems to be in short supply at Holyrood.