SNP has failed to keep promise on killer road, says ex-minister
A FORMER SNP minister has criticised the Scottish Government for failing to improve safety on one of the country’s deadliest roads.
Fergus Ewing said ‘there is no getting away’ from the fact the SNP has still not made good on its pledge 13 years ago to make all of the A9 a dual carriageway between Perth and Inverness.
Now after a spate of recent deaths on the road – which is the main route to and from the Highlands – Mr Ewing has demanded SNP Ministers fulfil the promise first made in 2009. The MSP for Inverness and Nairn said: ‘Delivery of these pledges is a matter of trust and confidence of the electorate – and a matter of honour.
‘Between Westminster and Holyrood there have been seven elections since the Government made the promise in Holyrood. There is no getting away from that.’
With only 30 miles of the 110-mile route upgraded to dual carriageway so far, the death toll continues to mount. On Friday, 64-year-old Alan Jones, from Inverness, died after a collision with an HGV on the A9 near Carrbridge.
The Countess of Dysart, Philippa Grant, 73, died after a collision between her Audi and a bus north of Aviemore on September 16. On the same day, Jacalyn Margittay, from Wisconsin in the US, was killed in a three-car smash near Dunkeld, Perthshire.
On August 10, American tourists Kathryn Bastion-Strong, 46, her brother Jared Bastion, 45, and their mother Mary-Lou Mauch, 75, died when their car collided with a lorry at Ralia, close to Newtonmore.
Government agency Transport Scotland says all dualling work will be finished by 2025 but Mr Ewing disputes this and is pressing Ministers to provide a realistic plan and impose safety measures.
Mr Ewing, Rural Economy Minister from 2016 to 2021, said: ‘The main aim here is to secure full details of their plans for the dualling of the A9 – including the timescale for the remaining sections not yet dualled. It is a given it will not happen by 2025.
‘The second objective is interim safety measures as the dualling is going to take several years. The number of fatalities means we must redouble our efforts to secure safety in the meantime.’
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: ‘Work to determine the most suitable procurement options for the remaining sections of the A9 dualling is ongoing.’