Latest A9 blow ‘huge’ setback
The recent announcement that the dualling of the A9 will not be completed as promised by 2025 will have come as no surprise to anyone who has been tracking progress of the work.
The original pledge has been delayed time and again, to the point that even SNP stalwarts are among those now calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
Dualling the stretch of road between Perth and Inverness was always going to be a huge project, one of the biggest infrastructure project in Scottish history, but the news that the 2025 target is now officially “unachievable”is a huge disappointment.
And while the SNP says it remains committed to completion, recent comments from their junior partners in government, the Scottish Greens, puts a further question mark over how much of a priority it remains.
Alongside the ongoing ferries debacle, it is another flagship transport commitment unfulfilled.
The failure to deliver is much more than a broken promise though, with implications for local economies, tourism, communities, safety and wellbeing.
It is a busy stretch of road, with more than 65,000 people travelling on it each day.
Journeys on it can be long and conditions, particularly in winter, can be difficult.
Lives continue to be lost on the road each year.
Excessive speeding and dangerous overtaking are too common and despite the installation of average speed cameras there are still numerous drivers breaking limits.
The same arguments that were used to call for its dualling remain valid today.
Campaigners have renewed their calls for dualling as the only way to properly address the dangers of the road and are asking the Scottish Government to reaffirm their commitment to do so.
An update on a renewed timetable is expected to be made in the autumn.
The move to invest in additional road safety measures and to upgrade markings and junctions is a positive step, but the communities that live along the route, and those who travel it, deserve the improvements they were promised and they should not have to continue to wait.
While we await a revised timescale, the delayed project sits within a list of transport challenges.
For many of those living in Perthshire, connecting to Perth itself is difficult enough.
Further reductions to local bus routes mean some of our rural communities risk being cut off at certain points in the day, unless they have access to a car.
Limitations on rail links sit alongside questions over affordability and ongoing delays and cancellations for train services.
Improvements to major routes like the A9 need to take place alongside work to address these local transport issues so that the major works also benefit those who live locally.
If we want to ensure connectivity across our communities, we cannot look at one project in isolation.