Upgrade work to the A9 and A96 routes is now being delayed. The two roads are to be widened and improved so that they feature dual carriageways along their entire length, projects that have long been planned.
However, the improvement of the A9 to dual carriageway status will not now be completed until 2030 instead of the previous schedule that would have seen the work finished earlier. Meanwhile, the plans to upgrade the A96 to dual carriageway status along its length by 2030 have now been delayed indefinitely according to Transport Scotland.
The project to upgrade the A9 to dual carriageway status for the full 128km between Perth and Inverness is costing a total of £3 billion, with only one of the 11 stretches now complete with another one due for completion shortly. However, a cost benefit analysis of the work is now underway and Transport Scotland intends to spend just £328 million between now and 2026 on the project. The improvement work is much-needed though as the route has a poor record for safety. The installation of average speed cameras along the A9 has helped reduce the rate of crashes, but head-on impacts remain a risk for drivers along the route.
