One of the UK's biggest programmes of road spending - not just now but for many years - the Scottish Government's commitment to upgrade the A9 to a fast dual carriageway between Perth and Inverness will see £3bn spent over a ten year period.
Eleven individual dualling schemes are in the programme, all due to be completed in or before 2025, and together they will create an 80 mile expressway north from Perth. South of that point, the A9 is already a dual carriageway down to the M9 at Stirling, and the M90 provides a direct route to Edinburgh and the Forth crossings, so the cumulative effect will be to connect Inverness and the Highlands to Scotland's central belt and the wider UK by continuous dual carriageway.
The existing A9 is mostly single carriageway, with occasional short dual carriageway sections to allow overtaking, and was mostly built as a new or realigned road in the 1970s. For the most part it has a very fast alignment but has a poor safety record, likely a result of it being both very fast and having few easy overtaking opportunities. The whole route is now subject to average speed cameras, which have served to limit the top speed of traffic. The speed cameras are not expected to remain when the route is completed.
Programme timescales
The following estimated timescales give an idea of the overall phasing of the programme, based on Transport Scotland's expectations for design and development work in 2014, but are subject to change.
| Section | Length | Start of work | Open to traffic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luncarty to Pass of Birnam | 9.5 km (5.9 miles) | 2017 | Due 2019 |
| Birnam to Tay Crossing | 8.3 km (5.15 miles) | 2018 | Due 2020 |
| Tay Crossing to Ballinluig | 7.7 km (4.8 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Pitlochry to Killiecrankie | 6.4 km (4 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Killiecrankie to Glen Garry | 21.6 km (13.4 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie | 9.5 km (5.9 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore | 11 km (6.8 miles) | 2018 | Due 2020 |
| Crubenmore to Kincraig | 16.5 km (10.2 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Kincraig to Dalraddy | 7.5 km (4.6 miles) | 2015 | September 2017 |
| Dalraddy to Slochd | 25 km (15.5 miles) | 2019+ | |
| Tomatin to Moy | 9.3 km (5.7 miles) | 2018 | Due 2020 |
More information
Transport Scotland maintain a website for the programme of works with regular updates and photographs: A9 Dualling Perth to Inverness.
