Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing says Greens won’t stop A9 and A96 work which he described as a 'matter of life and death'
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The dualling of the A9 and A96 is a matter of life and death, according to Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing who insisted there is no reason to fear that it won’t happen.
Sadly, the recent spate of fatal accidents on the A9 has enhanced its reputation as one of Scotland’s most dangerous roads and led to action from the Scottish Government to improve several known accident blackspots.
Mr Ewing also argued that after the spate of investment in other parts of the country – the Forth Crossing, the Borders railway, the Edinburgh and Aberdeen peripheral roads – “it is our turn, frankly, for a major slice of the investment cake”.
“The A9 and the A96 are the two roads conspicuous by their lack of investment,” he said. “It is my job to argue that in the Scottish Parliament but I don’t put it like that, I argue that it is a matter of life and death.
“What I would say is that evidence [from the Road Safety Foundation] shows clearly that single carriageway A-roads are seven times the risk of motorways and nearly three times the risk of dual carriageways. Now that is the evidence.
“I spent the first 20 years of my working life as a lawyer and the trade of a lawyer is based on putting forward evidence so I think those who dispute or object to the dualling of the A9 are flying in the face of the clear, established evidence and proof.”
He went on: “There is a wider point, we have seen over the past two decades since devolution big progress in transport projects. And everybody understands that, so apart from a very small minority of people mostly in the Green party, everyone understands and is supportive of the dualling of the A9 and the A96.”
Mr Ewing said the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland are dedicated to the projects – but he wants a clear timeline for action.
He cited the Nairn bypass as an example of commitment due to the amount of time, effort and money already invested, adding: “To me, to put it in a nutshell, once it gets to the orders and the compulsory purchase orders that is the point of no return, there is no going back because if you go back then it looks like complete incompetence.
“The only question is how fast it can be moved towards completion and look at it from the point of view of the transport professionals working on the A9 and A96 – this is their whole working life, they are really committed to this.”
The same can be said for the A9 which is much closer to completion than the A96: “There has been progress, the Tomatin to Moy section has already gone to procurement and will be completed by 2025.
“All of the sections now have the designs approved, but there is no timetable and there is no high-level plan so we still need those and I am still pressing for those.
“The need for a new timeline comes from the fact that the deadline of June 2025 will not be achieved.
“Unless people in the north see a revised plan they may start to doubt the will and the determination of the Scottish Government to actually deliver on dualling so we need to renew trust and confidence of the electorate by coming up with a plan B.
“We need an indicative timetable for when each of the remaining sections are intended to be dualled, with a variance of a few months in each case but I think it should be possible.
“Some people are questioning whether the voting pact with the Greens affects the dualling and I can absolutely assure you that it does not. It is not part of the Bute House agreement – it is going ahead.”
