A multi-million-pound plan to upgrade an accident blackspot on one of Scotland’s deadliest roads has been revealed.
The Scottish Government has taken the wraps off proposals for a key A9 route between Birnam and the Tay Crossing, north of Dunkeld.
The six-and-a-half-mile scheme which will form part of the ambitious £3 billion dualling project is the subject of a consultation exercise launched by Transport Scotland at the Birnam Arts and Conference Centre.
Residents have been presented with a range of options for the new-look road, which could see the Jubilee Bridge demolished and rebuilt.
Feedback from the session will be used by officials in drawing up finalised designs for dualling the A9. Transport Scotland aims to upgrade more than 80 miles of single carriageway by 2025.
This week accident figures for the route showed the number of fatal and serious accidents on the Perth to Inverness stretch has dropped from 14 in 2013 to seven in the past year. Between 2006 and 2010, on the Birnam to Tay Crossing section, there were 22 crashes including three fatalities.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Et19_KlTKso%3Frel%3D0
A spokesman said: “These public exhibitions for the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing dualling project are the latest in a series of public exhibitions held for the A9 Dualling Programme, giving local communities and road users the opportunity to see and comment on a range of route and junction options at an early stage in the design process.
“This is initial design work and no decisions will be taken on a preferred option for this over six-and-a-half-mile section of the route until all comments received from local bodies including the community council, amongst others, as well as any comments from the public exhibitions have been carefully considered.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-Smzqzsz_cM%3Frel%3D0
More than £2.5m has been spent on ground investigation work alone, which has involved drilling 300 boreholes and digging 200 trial pits. Large boulders found along the route are expected to “add a significant degree of complexity” to the work, Transport Scotland say.
The public is asked to look at options for Jubilee Bridge. The work could see the crossing retained, with a new bridge for southbound traffic, or the existing structure demolished and replaced.