Perthshire community representatives are pushing to have a series of road safety measures introduced on the A9 near Dunkeld including a new roundabout at a junction described as being an “absolute nightmare” for motorists at the moment.
Members of two groups with an interest in the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland’s progress on their ambitious A9 dualling programme provided details of the kinds of measures they wish to see introduced on the road at the most recent meeting of Dunkeld and Birnam Community Council (DBCC).
They include a new roundabout at a junction in the road leading to Dunkeld at which one community council member, Alan Wylie, complained he could spend over half an hour waiting at peak times to get turned onto or off the A9 the way the road is set out at the moment.
Mr Wylie raised the issue during a wider discussion over what progress had been made confirming how the road is to be rearranged when it is eventually dualled beside Dunkeld and how to improve road safety in the interim following a high number of fatalities in collisions along its route.
“Trying to get onto the A9 and off again into Dunkeld is an absolute nightmare,” he said. “You can easily wait for 30 minutes or more to get across that road.
“If the dualling is not going to happen anytime soon, should we be looking at alternatives to ease the traffic flow in and out of the village?”
Alasdair Wylie of the Birnam to Ballingluig A9 Community Group said ideas on how to improve road safety at several junctions along the road where it remains single carriageway at the moment were discussed at length during a recent meeting attended by Transport Scotland officials.
And Pam Green of the Dunkeld and Birnam Junctions Action Group said installing a roundabout at the “nightmare” junction discussed earlier in the meeting is one idea local people are very much in favour of.
“People are very keen to have a roundabout,” she said.
Ms Green said other ideas that had been put to her by locals were putting in better lighting at junctions and improved signage where the road currently narrows from dual carriageway to single.
On the subject of expectations when the road might eventually be dualled Mr Wylie said his understanding was that Transport Scotland is in the process of drawing up recommendations on how the road ought to be rearranged beside Dunkeld.
He said these recommendations would then be passed to Scotland’s transport minister Jenny Gilruth MSP for final approval, but added he hoped there would be some sort of community consultation about the options before then.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson commented: “The Transport Minister has stated, while chairing a recent A9 Safety Group forum, that the concerning increase in fatal road collisions on the A9 requires urgent attention.
“During the meeting, the minister confirmed proposals totalling £95,000 this financial year that will be invested into enhanced signage and road marking across the A9 Ballinluig southbound, the A9/B8079 junction and the A9 at Ralia to further improve road safety.
“This will be supplemented with additional short-term interventions that can be delivered this financial year and beyond, ahead of dualling.
“Transport Scotland officials met with Dunkeld and Birnam community groups on October 31 where the above measures were discussed, which included opportunities for works in this area as part of the additional interventions. This programme is currently being finalised.”
On the topic of progress being made with the dualling programme, the spokesperson added: “We are working hard to bring the benefits of the A9 dualling programme to Scotland, one of the biggest transport infrastructure projects in Scotland’s history.
“We have already invested approximately £431 million to date delivering the programme with work ongoing to determine the most suitable procurement options for the remaining sections.
“This looks at a number of factors including how the programme can be delivered most efficiently by the industry within the original cost estimate, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID.
“The only section of the A9 dualling programme not to have started the statutory process is the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing section.
“Design work to identify a preferred route for this section continues following the innovative co-creative process with the local community. Work is progressing on announcing a preferred route for this section in the coming months.”
