KATE Forbes has pledged to publish a revised timetable for dualling of the A9 if she is elected First Minister.
The SNP leadership candiate has said she will instruct Transport Scotland to review its procurement policies and publish a revised timetable by June, rather than the current estimate of autumn, in a bid to kickstart the dualling of the road from Perth to Inverness.
Forbes said failure to do so could result in a date of 2050 or later for completion, which she described as “unacceptable and unthinkable”.
Transport Secretarty Jenny Gilruth has said the initial date was an "ambitious challenge" but that she will update with a new target date and timescale in autumn after a review by Transport Scotland.
Highlighting fatality statistics over the past year, coupled with car use being “a necessity and not a luxury” for rural communities, the current Finance Secretary said it was “a matter of life and death”.
Forbes said: “Industry tells me that they want the A9 to be dualled from Perth to Inverness by the end of this decade, but only provided the way the work is procured changes radically. They say that unless this happens it may take till 2050 or even beyond to finish the job. That is unacceptable and unthinkable.
“Not only because a car is a necessity for most Highland people, not some kind of luxury item, but also because, as we have seen so tragically last year, it is a matter of life and death.”
The Finance Secretary continued: “Thirteen lives were lost in incidents on the A9 between Perth and Inverness. Of those, all but one occurred on single carriageway sections. Evidence from Transport experts proves that fatalities are three times as likely to occur on single carriageway than dual, and 10 times more than on motorways.
"Roads themselves do not cause incidents. But single carriageways with difficult junctions, swift change between single and dual, and many foreign drivers unfamiliar with the road or driving on the left, are unforgiving of driver error. There is also no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic.
Forbes also commented on the procedure of the policy decision so far.
She said: “Transport Scotland have had nearly two years since the election to do this, and since Covid we have all known that the 2025 target would not be met. I want Transport Scotland to work collaboratively with the civil engineering industry to devise means, whether by framework agreement or otherwise, to accelerate the progress. Risk sharing should be practised as I believe it is in England and some local authorities.
“In my first week in office I will instruct Transport Scotland to consider whether it can deliver a plan to do this work by the end of the decade. A timetable must be published by June at the very latest and certainly not in the autumn.
“Promises matter. Where we make them, we must keep them. It’s about honesty and trust, and that shall be my approach if I am elected First Minister.”
On Monday, candidate Ash Regan apologised on behalf of the SNP for “backtracking” on the deadline for delivering a “crucial” infrastructure project.
Regan said abandoning the 2025 deadline for widening the A9 between Perth and Inverness to make it a dual carriageway was a “total drop of the ball” as she pledged to crack the whip with civil servants working on the project.
