A9 dualling

[Norfolktolancashire]

Reply emailed today - they are still evaluating tenders - 4 in the shortlist - Farrans and Roadbridge JV , Wills Bros, Balfour Beatty and Dragados SA . Contract will be awarded late summer with a start shortly there after - that's the gist of the reply - so 2025 completion is optimistic in the extreme or the A9 will be one long road construction site

This is what we've been told to expect though.

There is going to be a lot of construction areas along the route, I think at least two or three stretches will have to be simultaneous as each will be around four/five miles long. The latest one near Aviemore took two years and there is only seven years left until 2025!

[Berk]

Why would that be any different to the A74 upgrade?? Much of that was unnecessary, over the moorland sections.

[wrinkly]

Why would that be any different to the A74 upgrade?? Much of that was unnecessary, over the moorland sections.

The A74 was a already dual carriageway so they had more space to play with.

On the A74 there were up to six contracts under construction simultaneously. There were many different combinations of where the new carriageways were located in relation to the old ones, but over most of the length the new didn't overlap the old, so on those stretches it could be done with little disruption.

Coatsgate to Harthope was a 5- or 6-mile stretch of mostly symmetric on-line widening, but they seemed to manage it with much less fuss than the recent A1 contract.

I'm not clear what you're saying was unnecessary?

[Berk]

I'm not clear what you're saying was unnecessary?

I feel like much of the A74 was converted to D3M on principle. Much of the route is still very rural, and when you consider routes like the A1 still haven’t been dualled to the border, making one route both entirely motorway and D3M seems like overkill.

Of course, narrow lanes did exist in some places, such as Lesmahagow.

[Nwallace]

It often feels like D3M is overkill particularly over Beattock; but when you pile into the D2 section from Abington you're soon wishing it had been upgraded too.
There have been a number of occasions where the D3 over Beattock has been very much approrpiate though; the minute you have a goods vehicle in L1, and either a slow car or a slightly faster moving Goods vehicle in L2 and you're sitting at :Cough: that 3rd lane is just perfect.

[Robert Kilcoyne]

I'm not clear what you're saying was unnecessary?

I feel like much of the A74 was converted to D3M on principle. Much of the route is still very rural, and when you consider routes like the A1 still haven’t been dualled to the border, making one route both entirely motorway and D3M seems like overkill.

Of course, narrow lanes did exist in some places, such as Lesmahagow.

The A74 dual carriageway may have been built to a relatively high standard for its time in the early and mid 1960's (ditto the A1, especially in Yorkshire) but by the mid-1980's, it was very clear that the A74 was becoming no longer fit for purpose as the main route between England and Scotland. The A74 was potentially quite dangerous as it had bus stops, farm and house accesses, and numerous at grade right turns, including a nasty crossroads with the B797 at Abington and a staggered crossroads with the A70 at Happendon.

[Ruperts Trooper]

I'm not clear what you're saying was unnecessary?

I feel like much of the A74 was converted to D3M on principle. Much of the route is still very rural, and when you consider routes like the A1 still haven’t been dualled to the border, making one route both entirely motorway and D3M seems like overkill.

Of course, narrow lanes did exist in some places, such as Lesmahagow.

The A74 dual carriageway may have been built to a relatively high standard for its time in the early and mid 1960's (ditto the A1, especially in Yorkshire) but by the mid-1980's, it was very clear that the A74 was becoming no longer fit for purpose as the main route between England and Scotland. The A74 was potentially quite dangerous as it had bus stops, farm and house accesses, and numerous at grade right turns, including a nasty crossroads with the B797 at Abington and a staggered crossroads with the A70 at Happendon.

From memory, the D2 A74 was a busy road in the early '70s, with lanes noticeably narrower than the M6 further south and even narrower round Lesmahgow - the M74/A74(M) doesn't have the "soul" of the A74 but it's a welcome improvement.

I never felt the A9 had any "soul" but maybe I'm being to romantic.

[Robert Kilcoyne]

From memory, the D2 A74 was a busy road in the early '70s, with lanes noticeably narrower than the M6 further south and even narrower round Lesmahgow - the M74/A74(M) doesn't have the "soul" of the A74 but it's a welcome improvement.

I never felt the A9 had any "soul" but maybe I'm being to romantic.

The Lesmahagow bypass on the A74 was built in the 1930's:-
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A74

[Ruperts Trooper]

From memory, the D2 A74 was a busy road in the early '70s, with lanes noticeably narrower than the M6 further south and even narrower round Lesmahgow - the M74/A74(M) doesn't have the "soul" of the A74 but it's a welcome improvement.

I never felt the A9 had any "soul" but maybe I'm being to romantic.

The Lesmahagow bypass on the A74 was built in the 1930's:-
https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A74

"much remembered by those who used to make the great journey north (or south) along it before it was upgraded to the A74(M)" - I'm certainly one of those - every fortnight, I drove from Peterhead to Wolverhampton on Friday evening and back the other way on Sunday afternoon - the '70s were good for me.

[novaecosse]

It often feels like D3M is overkill particularly over Beattock; but when you pile into the D2 section from Abington you're soon wishing it had been upgraded too.
There have been a number of occasions where the D3 over Beattock has been very much approrpiate though; the minute you have a goods vehicle in L1, and either a slow car or a slightly faster moving Goods vehicle in L2 and you're sitting at :Cough: that 3rd lane is just perfect.

As I understand it, the DBFO had the option of building the motorway as a D2 with the requirement to widen to D3 at a certain criteria.
They took the option to go straight to D3.
Interestingly, the road pavement construction thickness in Lane 3, is thinner than the other lanes because it doesn’t take heavies and was an agreed departure from Standards.

[Nwallace]

It often feels like D3M is overkill particularly over Beattock; but when you pile into the D2 section from Abington you're soon wishing it had been upgraded too.
There have been a number of occasions where the D3 over Beattock has been very much approrpiate though; the minute you have a goods vehicle in L1, and either a slow car or a slightly faster moving Goods vehicle in L2 and you're sitting at :Cough: that 3rd lane is just perfect.

As I understand it, the DBFO had the option of building the motorway as a D2 with the requirement to widen to D3 at a certain criteria.
They took the option to go straight to D3.
Interestingly, the road pavement construction thickness in Lane 3, is thinner than the other lanes because it doesn’t take heavies and was an agreed departure from Standards.

That's interesting, because my memory said that the surface on L3 tends to be different, and a random drop of the google maps man (ok this was the 2nd drop as the first landed me in Auchen castle...) shows lane 3 looking surface wise a lot like the hard shoulder
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.2960301 ... 312!8i6656

[Truvelo]

So what happens in the event of night time lane closures for resurfacing with all traffic running in lane 3?

[Bryn666]

I expect the motorway is just closed overnight in that situation and traffic uses the old road. At night there is nobody up there.

[haggishunter]

So what happens in the event of night time lane closures for resurfacing with all traffic running in lane 3?

Then as I've witnessed in roadworks all traffic runs in lane 3. It won't be an issue short term, if it was imagine what would happen to roads like the A838....

Now beyond off topic... oops!

[wrinkly]

As I understand it, the DBFO had the option of building the motorway as a D2 with the requirement to widen to D3 at a certain criteria.
They took the option to go straight to D3.

That's very interesting. I don't think I knew that before. I'll add it to the wiki page some time.

Of course by this time it was already D3M from J12 to Paddy's Rickle (the B7076 bridge south of the southernmost part of J14) and from J16 to the border.

[Glen]

Advance site clearance work on Luncarty to Pass of Birnam is due to start next week for 12 weeks.

https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/a9- ... anagement/

[RichardB]

Are they really arguing about woodland that's going to be fed into a biomass plant long before the building work starts anyway?

No, it's remnants of the natural Caledonian Pine forest around Birnham hill (and in various sections up the A9) and is not farmed like the neighbouring hills such as Craigvinnean with the intensive forestry operations are.

It's quite important in that damage to that is kept to a minimum as it's basically the only natural foresty left.

It's still made of wood though. The only difference is they have to find some obscure disease in the trees before they raze the lot to the ground and burn it, and they've been doing that with inconvenient trees since long before biomass was fashionable.

[Nwallace]

It's still made of wood though. The only difference is they have to find some obscure disease in the trees before they raze the lot to the ground and burn it, and they've been doing that with inconvenient trees since long before biomass was fashionable.

True, along with the ecological damage that goes with it, to the point at least 2 species that live in such woods are critically endangered.
There's also then the Shakespear link, only a few years ago there was a fair fuss about the Birnam Oak. What was it the witches open with?

[owen b]

I came down the A9 this morning to find that Kincraig to Dalraddy is coned down to one lane each way with a 50 limit for almost the full length of the dualled section, which has been open less than a year . I've just found this article https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... programme/ which states that it is to lay fibre-optic cabling. The article states : "The spokesman for the national transport agency said the ITS network was not installed in September, when the new dual carriageway opened, as it was “not critical” to its operation and it was decided to complete the works at a later date to prevent further delay to the road’s opening." Which sounds to me like the dualling works were not completed properly in the first place.

[Duncan macknight]

I can see why work was delayed on the fibre cables as the project was due to be completed in June 2017 but was pushed to September 2017. If work will be complete by 2025 we can expect this corner cutting work to get the road open. This has happened on the Queensferry crossing also remember but that was far behind schedule and needed to be opened