A9 dualling work marks a milestone 160,000 man hours on Luncarty to Birnam section
A major construction project to dual the A9 just north of Perth marked an important milestone this week.
Transport Scotland’s dualling of the A9 between Luncarty and Pass of Birnam began exactly a year ago.
The 9.5 kilometre stretch currently being worked on is the most southerly point of the whole £3 billion project, which will see the road eventually dualled all the way to Inverness.
Since last year, 17.5km of fencing has been built, 960 metres of drainage has been installated and 775 tonnes of structural concrete has been put in place.
Over the year, 160,000 man hours have been spent working on the project between Luncarty and Birnam, including creating 14 jobs, employing four apprentices and five graduates.
The project has also been engaging with thousands of school pupils and students from nursery right through to university-level education through its ‘Academy9’ programme.
‘Academy9’ aims to try and get more people living near to the A9 involved in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) career.
Gemma Montrose, project sponsor for the A9 dualling between Luncarty and the Pass of Birnam, said work is progressing well on this section of road.
She said: “Transport Scotland is committed to delivering more than just a road and we are working closely with Balfour Beatty to maximise the wider social benefits of this £96 million investment, locally and nationally.
“We are already seeing the positive outputs of these commitments. In the first 12 months of the project, we can report that we are well on the way to achieving our target of creating 30 new jobs over the anticipated two-year duration of the works.
“Transport Scotland has worked hard to ensure that the majority of the opportunities created by our project are filled by workers from the local area, with a focus on ‘difficult to reach’ groups, including bringing new people to the industry, young people, disadvantaged young people, long-term unemployed and veterans.
“It is important to recognise a huge amount of effort is dedicated by our contractor to work in partnership with organisations such as Remploy and Barnardo’s to fulfil these commitments.”
The Luncarty to Pass of Birnam project recently marked its first major milestone with the completion of the first beam lift to construct a new bridge at the Stanley and Tullybelton junction.
This new bridge is the culmination of months of planning and preparation by Transport Scotland’s contractor, Balfour Beatty.
A total of 15 precast concrete beams, ranging from 22m to 25m in length and weighing between 49 and 57 tonnes, were lifted into place over the A9 carriageway during a series of three overnight closures to create the bridge deck and parapets to be constructed.
A 750-tonne crane was used to lift and secure the beams into place each night, which have created the biggest structure of the project.
Alan Brisbane, project manager for Balfour Beatty, said: “Over the next few months, road users and the local communities will see a distinct change in the landscape as the line of the new carriageway begins to emerge.
“There is still a great deal of work to be done, both in terms of construction and in delivering more community benefits to the local area, but I am confident we will exceed expectation on both fronts.”
The works between Luncarty and the Pass of Birnam are not expected to be completed until spring 2021.
During this time, a 40mph speed limit is in place throughout the stretch of road, including a 30mph limit just south of Bankfoot.
However, once the works are completed there will be 15km of continuous dual carriageway between the Inveralmond