We’ve been let down
A woman who lives by the side of the A9 told how she hears the sound of emergency sirens almost every other day.
Safety campaigner Laura Hansler, from Kincraig, between Kingussie and Aviemore in Invernessshire, has witnessed several accidents and been involved in near misses herself.
Laura, 52, said: “A few miles up the road is Slochd Summit and that’s where they lost eight people last year including two grandparents and a two-year-old. That was utterly horrific. We also lost a local person, Philippa Grant.
“People round here think, ‘When is it going to be my loved one or my neighbour or me?’ when they hear the sirens and see the helicopters. We’ve been let down.”
She has led the campaign to dual the road for years.
Just two of the 11 sections of the road from Perth to Inverness have been widened in 15 years and a section from Tomatin to Moy has been postponed. Just one bid was submitted to do the work and it will go out to tender again.
Retired chartered engineer George Rennie, from Inverness, said the way contracts work in Scotland has hindered progress.
He said: “Transport Scotland is quite inflexible and effectively it puts a huge amount of risk on to the contractor.”
Rennie suggested a more accurate date for the A9 would be 2050. On the 2025 date, he said: “I don’t believe Transport Scotland has a delivery plan developed that was ever to deliver by that time.”
Transport Scotland blamed Covid, Brexit and inflation.
The Scottish Government said the terms and conditions for major road projects had “provided a high degree of cost certainty”.
It added that given the contract only had one tender, “we have been considering a range of factors as to why” and “will be considering how those might be changed in future”.