A9 dualling route will go on public display
Exhibition onTay Crossing and Ballinluig stretch
Transport Scotland is holding public exhibitions in Highland Perthshire to show the current route of proposed A9 dualling work to communities and road users.
At the end of last year a plan to take the trunk road cross-country round the settlements of Guay, Kindallachan and Dowally near Ballinluig was dropped.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson explained: “As for all our major road projects, we have been engaging with local communities as we have been developing our plans for dualling the stretch of the A9 between Tay Crossing and Ballinluig.
“That assessment work is now complete and we informed local residents in December 2016 that the preferred option for dualling this section of the A9 will comprise widening of the existing route between Tay Crossing and Ballinluig.”
The preferred route is the concept previously presented at community engagement events last year as ‘Option 2’.
Essentially this is a broadly southbound widening of the A9, with local access provided by means of a new overbridge and junctions at Kindallachan.
Transport Scotland said the exact location of the accesses and overbridges will be the subject of further consultation with local landowners.
The Transport Scotland representative continued: “The design work for this section is far from complete and the next stage will be to undertake more detailed development and assessment work of the chosen option and to start to define more closely any mitigation that may be required to address issues such as flooding and noise.”
Public exhibitions will be held on February 15 and 16 in Ballinluig’s Mid Atholl Hall, from noon to 7pm on February 15 and 11am to 3pm the following day.
Birnam to Ballinluig A9 Community Group coordinator Alasdair Wylie told the PA: “We are supporting the process of constructive, transparent engagement.
“For the northern section - Tay Crossing to Ballinluig [engineering firm] Jacobs has informed Transport Scotland that they favour a return to the design option that they previously discounted, keeping the A9 on an ‘online’ course.
“The eventual decision may not please everyone, but as a group we aim to be co-creative and we hope at the end of the day the outcome will be as good as possible.”