Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - A9 (Dualling)
3. Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made since May 2007 on dualling the A9 north of the Drumochter pass. (S3O-5709)
The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):
We announced our plans to upgrade the A9 to Inverness in December 2008. We are currently well advanced in our preparations for extending the dual carriageway at Crubenmore.
Peter Peacock: I note what the minister says. People are genuinely perplexed that, against the background of a stated commitment to dual the entire length of the A9, among the first projects on the A9 that the minister has approved is not the dualling of the sections at Moy and Carrbridge but the upgrading of them to three-lane overtaking sections. Will the minister go back to his office this afternoon and instruct the immediate upgrading of the design of the Moy and Carrbridge sections to dual carriageway in line with the promises that were made before the election?
Stewart Stevenson: The member will be perplexed because he is clearly not engaged in the issue. Many of the initiatives that we are taking forward with best speed and energy are constrained by the decisions of the previous Administration. If, however, we are in a position of actually having a budget—well, I leave the rest to the listeners.
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): Can the minister explain why we are spending money on two-plus-one lanes at Moy and Carrbridge that will have to be superseded, dug up and tarmacked over again when they become dual carriageways? Surely, if the Government is serious about having dual carriageways on those sections and is not just going through the motions, it will admit that those two-plus-one lanes are an extravagance and that the money should be used for dualling those sections now.
Stewart Stevenson: The key interventions that we are making at the moment are driven by safety.
I do not think that any family that does not suffer loss as a result of those interventions will regard them as an extravagance.
The intervention to dual the A9, which we are fully committed to, is an economic intervention, which we will come to as the funds are available. However, we want to get the maximum bang for our safety buck in the meantime. There is clear evidence that when we put in W2+1s—three lanes—at appropriate places there are significant safety benefits. I am utterly determined to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads and to ensure that families do not suffer the grief and losses that result from too many accidents on them.
