A Highland campaigner claims the SNP government is “no further forward” in completing the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness as she renewed calls for a public memorial to road victims.
Laura Hansler, who has led the campaign to see the killer route finally dualled, said it is “reprehensible” the SNP government isn’t “putting heat under this dualling project”.
On Thursday, MSPs debated the A9 dualling inquiry with Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop giving an update.
“There was nothing to refresh us, nothing to reassure us”, Ms Hansler told the P&J after watching the debate from the public gallery at Holyrood.
“There was a lot of spin, rehashing, a lot of jargon getting used I think to fool the public in a sense.
“Underneath it all, there’s not much foundation to what she’s saying.
“We’re not any further forward. They’re trying to tell us that in the next 10-and-a-bit years they’re going to dual 80-odd miles of road.
“In the last 16 years they’ve managed 11 miles. That’s the staggering statistic we’re looking at.”
‘Reprehensible’
Ms Hansler also hoped to hear more about part of her campaign which she thinks has gone quiet while attention is paid to the road-widening scheme.
She wants the government to effectively “apologise” by creating a memorial to those who have died in A9 collisions.
But she worries Ms Hyslop is “gagging” that part of the campaign by suggesting it would be up to private individuals.
Ms Hansler said more pressure needs to be put on the government for the sake of everyone affected by deaths and injuries on the road.
“We are not hearing people talk about the people whose lives have been also been devastated, with amputations, losing careers, losing families,” she added.
“For them not to be putting heat under this dualling project is reprehensible.”
It comes days after Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop advised against accelerating or rescheduling the project to dual the road.
The project is expected to be completed by 2035 – a decade later than promised.
The report, released earlier this week, said accelerating the works would “negatively impact procurement, construction, supply chains and increase disruption”.
Highland MSPs lined up to appeal to the SNP government to get on with dualling the route, including Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing.
Quoting classic film the Godfather, the veteran SNP MSP told Ms Hyslop that dualling the road sooner than 2035 was “an offer she could not refuse”.
The SNP promised in 2011 that the road would be dualled from Inverness to Perth by 2025. But in December 2023, it was announced it would be pushed back a decade.
SNP government has ‘manifestly failed’
Mr Ewing said the Scottish Government has “manifestly failed” on A9 dualling.
He told the transport secretary that “a little bit of humility” in response to requests to speed up the project “would have been seemly”.
Highlands and Islands Tory MSP Jamie Halcro-Johnston said it was a “shameful saga”.
“My message to this SNP government is simple. No more failures, no more excuses, get the A9 dualled”, he added.
The transport secretary said the government has made “good progress” on awarding contracts to dual parts of the road, including the Tomatin to Moy section.
Ms Hyslop told the chamber: “I believe the report we’ve put forward demonstrates that the plan established and published in December 2023 is robust and practical to undertake this large programme of work in the years ahead.
“We remain fully focused and committed to delivering what will be 50% of the A9 between Perth and Inverness dualled by the end of 2030, 85% by the end of 2033 and 100% by the end of 2035.”
Ms Hyslop earlier said that work was expected to be completed on a £5 million package of “short-term measures” by March and that work to make the road safer for users would continue.
She added: “I want to reiterate my commitment to providing transparency and certainty on the progress of the A9 dualling programme as it moves forward in the months and years ahead.”
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