Time to shout louder

THE A9 is to become dual carriageway between Perth and Inverness in a £3 billion project; Aberdeen get a brand new £653 million bypass; central Scotland’s motorways are getting an upgrade worth £500 million; Perth is set for a £35 million ring road improvement; and the new Forth crossing is nearly complete at a cost of £1.4 billion along with associated motorway improvements.

Travel further west and the major road serving Argyll is being left behind. We are fobbed off with the cheapest option to ‘mitigate’ (whatever that means) the landslide risk with a few fences at the Rest worth a total of £10 million over four years.

The latest incident involving Mother Nature at the Rest is no surprise, because it is a wild and potentially dangerous place, and the road infrastructure is no longer up to our climate challenges.

We need to shout louder, to be bolder in our approaches to government. Just when is the A83 being dualled? The Argyll and Bute Economic Forum announced last week that ‘a permanent solution is absolutely required’ for the A83 at the Rest. The Scottish Government is beginning a review of the national transport strategy, and we must be at the centre of this – not an afterthought.

In the meantime, the Argyllshire Advertiser is supporting Dougie Philand’s Scottish Parliament petition to improve the A83 at the Rest. You can demonstrate your support for the cause by picking up your vehicle stickers at the Argyllshire Advertiser offices in Lochgilphead or at the Campbeltown Courier.