Prominent A9 campaigner, Murdo Fraser MSP, has welcomed the start of work to dual the remaining sections of single carriageway road between Perth and Inverness.
The Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP and founder of the "Dual the A9 Campaign" believes that the start of work on the road will herald a new era of better transport links between the central belt and the highlands. However, Murdo has cautioned that much is still to be done as we are 10 years away from a fully dualled road, which he believes is still too long to wait.
The five miles of road from Kincraig to Dalraddy, south of Aviemore, will be the first of 12 sections to be tackled. The construction of the new stretch of dual carriageway is due to be completed by 2017 at a cost of £35m. It will involve excavating 700,000 tonnes of rock and soil.
Of the 110 miles of road between Inverness and Perth, only about 30 miles is dual carriageway.
Commenting Murdo Fraser MSP said;
"The start of actual work on dualling the road between Perth and Inverness is a welcome development. For the past couple of years we have had prepatory ground work conducted on different parts of the road but it is now great to see shovels hit the ground.
"This is a major infrastructure project and it is important that the dualling work can be completed with as little disruption to people's lives in the area and to the journeys of passengers and goods using the highway.
"Understandably dualling the remaining sections of road between Perth and Inverness is a complex process but many people in the area are scratching their heads as to why it will be another 10 years before we have a completely dualled road. After all the famous Route 66 highway in the USA which traverses seven different states and measures 2,500 miles only took 11 years to build.
"Despite the Scottish Government rigidly sticking to their 2025 deadline I am still hopeful that with the right support the dualling works can be completed sooner."