Time to stop pretending the A9 will be fully dualled

Sir, – Nicola Sturgeon admits the “A9 dualling could slip” (Courier, February 11). Well, there is a surprise.

Her party came to power in 2007 promising to dual the whole of the A9, along with a whole shopping list of other promises which have never seen the light of day.

Nothing much happened in the first parliament.

A short six-mile section on Speyside was completed in the second and the planning process for the Luncarty to Birnam Pass section started.

While that is now shaping up well, it is not actually complete.

The section around Birnam is widely believed to be physically impossible, and appears to have been omitted.

The next section to the north has huge controversies surrounding it due to the Battle of Killiecrankie historic site, and there is no word of a timeline.

Beyond that, there is little evidence of any planning preparations of any sort for the road to the north of there.

Given the Luncarty to

Birnam section alone has taken 10 years to deliver, and that this is about 10% of the total 80 miles to be upgraded, and that the planning process for the rest has not even begun, then I think we can safely say that the A9 was never going to get delivered by 2025, or no.

It appears that the Scottish Government will probably finish the Luncarty to Birnam stretch, and call it a day at that, enough to tick a box and show willing, but not enough to make that much of a difference.

And the cost? The initial cost was estimated at £500 million, or so Pete Wishart told us at the time. It now appears to be £6 billion. For that amount of money, you could probably upgrade the railway line and every station in every small town along the way.

Let us stop the pretence of dualling the A9, and put in some proper infrastructure for the 21st Century and beyond. Tinkering here and there isn’t really going to make much difference.

Victor Clements. Mamie’s Cottage, Aberfeldy.