‘People will die on the A9 because of dualling delays’

A man who survived a crash on the A9 and witnessed another fatal accident on the same stretch of road has criticised new delays to safety improvements.

Scots transport minister Jenny Gilruth last week confirmed the 2025 deadline for dualling the remaining single-carriageway sections of entire 110-mile road between Perth and Inverness is “simply no longer achievable”.

She said a revised timetable would be set out “as soon as possible, seeking to minimise delay as far as possible”.

The news has angered campaigners and politicians after 17 people died in 11 crashes on the A9 last year, with 13 of the fatalities occurring on the section between the two cities.

Ronnie Weir lives just 25 metres from the busy road at Dowally, near Dunkeld.

Since he moved there six years ago he has escaped a fatal head-on crash just a mile from his home and has witnessed another.

Weir, 75, suffered serious leg injuries in the accident in April 2017. The female driver of the other car died at the wheel.

“The woman was driving north and I was coming south when she somehow ended up on the wrong side of the road and smashed into me at about 60 miles an hour,” he told The Sunday Post. “I was lucky to be alive but there are so many accidents on that stretch and not everyone is so fortunate. The road was blocked for about seven hours.”

Weir had to give up his career as a ski instructor and still struggles to walk.

He said that in May 2019 he witnessed another tragic collision just 100 metres from his home which claimed the life of an 81-year-old woman after a 4×4 collided with a Land Rover towing a caravan.

“It was very similar to the accident that I had been involved in,” he said. “My wife used to be a nurse and did her best to help but it was such a terrible scene.”

Weir said he was dismayed that work on fully dualling the road has been delayed.

“It is inevitable that more people will die on the A9 because of this,” he said. “There have already been four fatal crashes within a mile of my house since I came here to live. The Scottish Government needs to act now to help prevent further deaths and serious injuries. Progress has been far too slow.”

Dualling the entire route will provide 80 miles of new dual carriageway at an estimated cost of £3bn. However, only two of the 11 sections have been completed.

A tender process for the six-mile section between Tomatin to Moy attracted only one bid and ministers said last week it was “significantly higher” than the £115 million budget.

Gilruth insisted it would not represent best value for the taxpayer and said she has asked Transport Scotland to begin a new procurement competition.

She said: “Transport Scotland is urgently considering a range of different options to provide ministers advice on the most efficient way in which to dual the remaining sections. Our investment of over £430 million to date means much has already been achieved and while much is still to be done, this government is absolutely committed to completing the A9 Dualling programme.”

Her announcement to parliament was met with anger and claims that the government had let down the Highlands.

The Scottish Conservatives warned that people would continue to die until the road was made safer, while Scottish Labour Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant said missing the target was a “total betrayal to the Highlands”.

SNP MSP Fergus Ewing said he was “appalled” and called for a public inquiry into the delay.

In 2022, the 13 fatalities on the road between Perth and Inverness included a two-year-old boy and his grandparents who died after a crash at the Slochd, in July.

Highland-based safety campaigner Laura Hansler from The A9 Dual Action Group said: “We are dismayed by the transport minister’s announcement. There has been massive disrespect shown to people who have lost loved ones on the A9 who were given assurance after assurance that the road would be dualled.”