Fergus Ewing calls for First Minister statement at earliest opportunity on A9 dualling
A spate of crashes this past week on the A9 in the strath has led to demands for the Scottish Government to speed up dualling work - or at the least safety upgrades - at local accident blackspots.
The latest accident happened as the Strathy was going to press yesterday with four vehicles caught up in an crash by Lynchat.
All lanes were closed just north of Kingussie after the crash which occurred at around 12.19pm.
There have been been six serious accidents in less than a fortnight on the A9 in the Highlands.
A common theme in the strath is that the accidents are at and near to old poorly designed junctions with Granish, Lynwilg, Blackmount by Carrbridge and Raliabeg being particullraly notorious.
Strathspey MSP Fergus Ewing is reminding John Swinney of the pledge he had given on June 25 to him and cross-party colleagues from the region.
The SNP verteran politician said yesterday: “The First Minister agreed to give our plea consideration. To be fair I do not expect that process to be completed yet - at least if it’s a serious process.
“But the impression I got was that his officials were not at all keen - nor was Fiona Hyslop (Cabinet Secretary for Transport).
“In the light of the spate of these recent and serious further road traffic incidents on the A9, the First Minister should make a statement as to whether the Scottish Government is or is not giving serious consideration to accelerating the dualling programme announced last December by then Transport Secretary MacAllan.
“I call on the First Minister to make his statement on this in the first week back at Holyrood in early September.”
A9 Dual Action Group campaigner Laura Hansler, of Kincraig, is also demanding action and told the Strathy: “We are at a state now of how many deaths will it take before the Scottish Government pay due respect to the people of the Highlands and accelerate this programme?
“How many more fatalities are we expected to tolerate whilst they siphon money to more lucrative vanity projects? What will it take for our voices to be heard?
“Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop recently visited Inverness to visit some transportation schemes - but she travelled there by rail!
“What an utterly shameful situation, after all shouldn’t they be willing to experience the A9 peak season as we do day in and day out?
“Just how many more innocent lives will be sacrificed for their lack of political will?”
Local Highland councillor Bill Lobban protested: "The time for talking about the A9 is over. Our community demands action.
“If, as I suspect, the money isn't there to dual the entire route between Inverness to Perth then at the very least focus on the junctions and is it beyond our capabilities to provide additional safety measures that are more effective than signs telling us not to drive tired."
Four people were injured in a collision involving a car, lorry and bus on the A9 near Carrbridge on July 26.
There was gridlock on the roads in and around Aviemore on Friday late afternoon after a serious accident involving a car, van and an HGV on the A9 north of the junction with the B9152 at around 4.45pm.
Three people had to be taken to hospital for treatment and the A9 was closed for three hours.
Not far from the same spot at Granish there had been an accident 24 hours earlier.
Nobody was hurt in the crash between a car and a truck that closed the A9. A driver of one of the vehicles was later issued with a fixed penalty notice.
Transport Scotland has said an extra £5m will be spent over the next year on safety measures but that has not impressed the A9 Dual Action Group and others.
The First Minister was contacted for comment.
• The Scottish Government has announced the next chance for the public to comment on its dualling plans for the Birnam section in Perthshire.
Face-to-face public exhibitions are being held in Birnam on August 21 and 22 August, and an online exhibition will go live on August 21.
Ms Hyslop said: “Work continues to deliver our ambitious A9 dualling programme with the award of the construction contract for the Tomatin to Moy scheme, the next section to be dualled, and procurement having commenced for the Tay Crossing to Ballinluig scheme.
“The challenging section of the route between Pass of Birnam and Tay Crossing was subject to a co-creative process working with the community before we identified the preferred route option.”
