It’s time for an upgrade to the A77
It truly is an honour to have been elected to serve as a Scottish Conservative MSP for the South Scotland Region.
As someone who was born in Girvan, raised in Maybole and has chosen to settle and raise a family in Ayr, I know how much Ayrshire has to offer, as well as the many challenges our region faces.
One of those challenges is our local infrastructure; in particular, the A77. For decades, south west Scotland has been served by this poor excuse for a road, which winds it way up through the narrow town centres of Girvan and Maybole relying on a single lane in each direction. While there has been some welcome movement with the announcement of the Maybole By-Pass, it is unacceptable that the Scottish Government have not taken greater steps to upgrade the entire A77 to make it a road fit for the 21st century.
Their lack of action is even more alarming given that the road is the main route for haulage services rumbling down from Glasgow to Cairnryan. For lorries arriving from Northern Ireland, they are presented with a single lane road more suited to a coastal scenic route rather than as one the UK’s major arteries of commerce.
It’s not just about trade though. It’s the safety of road users, the impact on our environment and effect it has on Ayrshire tourism. There are dozens of crashes on the A77 every year, many of them fatal. In fact, since 2000, 1103 crashes occurred on the road, 43 of these being fatal, 225 being serious and four being very serious. Time and time again, people are losing their lives or suffering horrific injuries because the A77 is overcrowded, too narrow and is unsuitable for the varied types of traffic that use it.
Then there’s the environment. Transport Scotland noted in their Environmental Statement for the Maybole By-pass that upgrades to the A77 will cause a reduction in pollution levels in Maybole town centre and that the scheme“will be beneficial for local air quality.” Why then, is this principle not being applied all the way along the southern stretch of the A77? The Scottish Government have been proud to boast of their green credentials but a key part of achieving that vision is reducing the amount of CO2 in our town centres and installing a separate bypass at Girvan would form a significant contribution towards making South Ayrshire a greener place. Not only would this reduce emissions, it would resolve the issues with congestion that have dogged the A77 for years. We must think of the future. With hundreds of new homes in the pipeline all along the A77 corridor, road use in South Ayrshire is set to skyrocket, bringing an even greater volume of traffic through our town centres. Unless we take action now, journey times will only get slower, fumes will increase and more lives will be lost in unnecessary and avoidable accidents.