Delays to road schemes means continued chaos
A potentially significant programme of road improvements remains on the cards for key routes around Perth and Kinross – but there has been no commitment as to when they will be delivered.
Solutions to bottlenecks such as Broxden and better safety measures and travel times have been on the wishlist for a number of years on stretches of the A9 away from the £3bn dualling scheme, although they have so far only delivered some low-cost fixes.
Now Transport Scotland has told the PA that it is working on solutions for some of the findings of a review commissioned in 2012, and that these would become part of a ‘review of the review’.
The £150,000 assessment of the trunk route between Keir near Dunblane and the Big County is poised to be part of a Scotland-wide strategy for the future, we have been told.
But the agency has said Perth’s growing population – with plans for major housing developments from Bertha Park to the bottleneck Broxden areas – is likely to be placed at the forefront of the schemes.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We commissioned a study between Keir and Broxden in 2012 to outline the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) recommendation to grade separate the route. That work will now be used to inform the review of the STPR.”
The PA understands that review could start within months, alongside a National Transport Strategy, which will set out the planning priorities.
The spokesperson continued: “Emerging development proposals for the Perth West area include potential changes to the junctions west of Broxden therefore we will continue to work with Perth and Kinross Council to consider these in due course. We are also aware that a number of consented and planned developments will have a demonstrable impact on the Broxden roundabout and, as such, we are investigating the detailed engineering feasibility of the developer led proposals.”
Work is well under way on the A9/A85 junction improvements west of Perth as part of the multimillion pound Perth Transport Futures Project. In the longer term this will deliver the Cross Tay Link Road. But there has been comparatively less focus on Broxden which feeds into the Western bypass.
In 2012 Transport Scotland commissioned the £150k A9 study specifically for the existing dual carriageway, looking at issues including notorious right turns where motorists are forced to cross four lanes of traffic, such as at Auchterarder.
We asked Transport Scotland how far the 2012 study had moved on to delivering change since 2014. In 2014 Transport Scotland told us said the study was “being taken forward as two distinct pieces of work”.
The agency said that since 2012 it has been carrying out further work to look at each issue Perth’s Broxden Roundabout in more detail.
This week the PA also specifically asked about emerging matters such as routes around Blackford where pressure is growing to deliver a new exit from the A9 to assist lorries servicing the expanding Highland Spring factory. Concerns have been raised in Blackford about lorries queuing in the streets awaiting entry to the facility.
Transport Scotland did not directly answer that point.
Its spokesperson added: “Elsewhere on the A9 we are also investigating the scope for any further small scale engineering measures at junctions between Keir and Broxden to improve junction road safety further to the works we have undertaken in recent years.”
Junction safety solutions have included flashing signs warning of crossing traffic and pedestrians traversing the dual carriageway.
At Auchterarder, Transport Scotland has so far ruled out a pedestrian bridge to access Gleneagles Railway Station, instead opting for widening the central reservation and warning signs.
The November 2008 Strategic Transport Projects Review highlighted potential transport improvements, including a new rail link between Perth and Inverkeithing, as well as upgrading the A9 from Dunblane to Inverness.