Transport Scotland’s major project to dual 130km of the A9 between Perth and Inverness reached a milestone last week with the opening of the first section of newly constructed carriageway to traffic.

 

Vehicles have now been switched over onto a 4km stretch of new carriageway on the Kincraig to Dalraddy section of the project – the first to get under way as part of the £3Bn programme.

 

This will enable contractor Wills Bros Civil Engineering / John Paul Construction joint venture to begin work on upgrading the existing road alongside.

 

Once complete the dualling is expected to improve safety on the route and help to reduce delays, with motorists more able to overtake slow moving vehicles.

 

Scottish Cabinet Secretary for the Economy Keith Brown said: “As one of Scotland’s largest and most challenging infrastructure projects I welcome this important milestone in our A9 dualling programme.”

 

Work is currently ongoing to progress the design of other sections to be upgrade as part of the programme, of which there are 11 in total.

 

♦ Great Britain’s longest deployment of average speed cameras is on 159km of the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness. New research revealed last week shows that this technology, which is active on at least 50 stretches of road around the country, is effective in cutting the worst crashes by more than a third.

 

The study commissioned by the RAC Foundation and carried out by Road Safety Analysis found that on average the number of fatal and serious collisions decreases by 36% after average speed cameras are introduced.

 

RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “All the indications are that compliance with average speed cameras is high; now this research reveals the sizable impact they can have in reducing death and serious injuries.”

 

(Photo: Transport Scotland)