A formal inquiry is to be held into the Scottish Government’s pledge to dual the A9 between Inverness and Perth.
Road safety campaigner Laura Hansler lodged a petition calling for the 2011 commitment to be delivered and to address safety concerns on the trunk road.
She also urged a revised timetable and detailed plan for dualling each section and the creation of a memorial to those who have lost their lives on the A9.
The Scottish Parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee launched a consultation on the issue in Kincraig last month.
It has now decided to upgrade its consideration of the petition to a formal committee inquiry.
Hundreds of responses
The committee also agreed to invite the former Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, Alex Neil, to give evidence on the background to the project and ongoing delays.
Mr Neil held the Cabinet Secretary position between May 2011 and September 2012 when the funding for the project was initially promised.
Committee convener Jackson Carlaw said there has been a significant level of public interest in the petition. The consultation runs until September 15.
“Our public consultation on the A9 petition has received hundreds of responses from the communities along the route, individuals who regularly use the road and the businesses who rely on it.
“The committee have therefore agreed to upgrade our consideration of this petition to a formal inquiry and to invite the original Scottish Government architect of the dualling plans, former Cabinet Secretary Alex Neil, to now give evidence.”
The committee will also invite the current cabinet secretary for transport, net zero and just transition, Mairi McAllan, to give evidence following the promised A9 dualling programme update in the autumn.
The move was welcomed by Laura Hansler of theA9 Dual Action Group who said at the consultation launch she feared the dualling programme would never go ahead.
She said: “Those that signed the petition, those that drive on the A9 and especially those that have been or will be injured, those who have tragically lost their loved ones on the road are the reason why this is so exceptionally important.
“It is to be commended that the Scottish Parliament are holding the government to account, and will scrutinise just how we have ended up in this wholly unacceptable situation.
‘I will continue to ask difficult questions’
“The committee’s cross party unanimous support for the petition is clearly a strong commitment.
“The A9 must be dualled, and I will continue to ask difficult questions and demand solutions until the road is dualled.”
She said dualling can happen, but it needs “unswerving government determination and a desire to learn lessons and reflect with integrity from the appalling delay in progress since initial commitment in 2011.”
Transport minister Jenny Gilruth revealing earlier this year the long-promised upgrade would no longer be completed by 2025.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We are assisting the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in its considerations.
“However our focus remains on delivering the remainder of the dualled sections as efficiently as possible.”
This week, First Minister Humza Yousaf failed to answer when the A9 will be dualled between Perth and Inverness while setting out his priorities for the year ahead.
He did however confirm the procurement process has been launched for the Tomatin to Moy section.
Conversation