Dualling should have scope for all vehicle types

A civil engineer has branded the A9 dualling a “huge waste of money” for failing to consider driverless and electric cars in its plans.

The £3bn dualling between Perth and Inverness aims to increase capcity on the 80-mile stretch but the Scottish Transport Studies Group say these plans could become redundant as autonomous vehicles such as driverless cars would take up less space.

Derek Halden, secretary of the studies group, said: “Investing in the road network requires as fundamental a rethink as took place when cars replaced horses.

“In general, more lanes have helped improve safety and efficiency with manually driven cars but it may well be that fewer lanes or simpler road configurations could speed up cars and improve safety as we depend more heavily on autonomous vehicles.

“Anyone building a new long-distance route must plan for the route to be used by autonomous vehicles.

“Fixing the A9 could be an opportunity to lead the world but rushing ahead with an A9 dualling programme to a 20th-century design could turn out to be a huge waste of money.”

Mr Halden said developers could consider adding wireless recharging for electric cars built into the roads and add solar panels to carriageway surfaces to generate electricity.

A spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: “As part of our ambitious plan to dual the A9 we will be considering the issue of charging points for electrical vehicles as we progress the design work.”