A9 dualling

[Mikehannah]

Hi
According to the “ new” plan for dualling the A9 the next section up is Ballinluig to Tay Crossing. Which is supposed to go out to tender in Spring 2024. Anyone want to bet it won’t happen?

[B9127]

Spring lasts from 20 March until 20 June so at the moment time is on their side

[Ruperts Trooper]

Spring lasts from 20 March until 20 June so at the moment time is on their side

Which definition - astronomical or meteorological, which is 1st March - 31st May.

[jnty]

Spring lasts from 20 March until 20 June so at the moment time is on their side

Which definition - astronomical or meteorological, which is 1st March - 31st May.

I'm sure infrastructure construction spring lasts until about September!

[Summers-lad]

Spring lasts from 20 March until 20 June so at the moment time is on their side

I did once hear a civil servant say that in civil service terms, spring means any time between March and November.

[Glen]

Hi
According to the “ new” plan for dualling the A9 the next section up is Ballinluig to Tay Crossing. Which is supposed to go out to tender in Spring 2024. Anyone want to bet it won’t happen?

Just as well anyone didn't take you up on that bet.
https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/nex ... very-plan/

[Mikehannah]

“ outlining intention” does not meaning anything.
I will wait and see if they start the tender process.

[B9127]

It does note that some advance works are to commence soon - which will probably be trees etc - still say the single bridge could have been let as a single contract and built in advance of the carraigeway works

[Burns]

If they dual Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, it'll put pressure on Dunkeld to get done. I hope you like the idea of a roundabout being slapped in at the busiest junction outside Perth and Inverness.

[jnty]

If they dual Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, it'll put pressure on Dunkeld to get done. I hope you like the idea of a roundabout being slapped in at the busiest junction outside Perth and Inverness.

Is Dunkeld holding up the project currently? I thought a final design had been more or less settled on, but construction isn't due to start for years. I wouldn't be surprised if the roundabout is built early as an interim safety measure.

[B9127]

best would be to use the existing carraigeway as northbound only and take the southbound off at the proposed temporary circle north of the Tay Crossing and send it through Dunkeld - that would focus minds

[Potholes ate my car]

With the SNP’s backtracking on net zero commitments, and the end of the Bute House Agreement, I wonder if we’ll see the A9 dualling being pushed back up the agenda?

[jnty]

With the SNP’s backtracking on net zero commitments, and the end of the Bute House Agreement, I wonder if we’ll see the A9 dualling being pushed back up the agenda?

I doubt it - the A9 was always excluded from the agreement, and the current fashion for net zero climbdowns is a lack of money, not a desperate desire to build stuff.

[A9Dan]

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

Contract notice for Tay Crossing to Ballinluig published today. Award expected summer 2025.

[Nwallace]

A car reading a sign and showing it to the driver and setting the speed limiter to it is not AI.

There is no "intelligence" involved at all it is simply computer vision feeding a series of events.

Not that many years ago, being able to read text in an image was definitely regarded as AI.

There's no "years ago" about it - computer vision is a branch of AI. The software which reads speed limits will - in a very broad sense - use many of the same underlying techniques that ChatGPT or any of the other zeitgeisty AI tools use.

well when I did computer vision, OCR and I the pattern matching algorithms weren't considered AI.

hooking it up to machine learning and neural networks was.
but to be fair that was now 20 years ago.

Sent from my IV2201 using Tapatalk

[roadtester]

Sturgeon's apology/non-apology for completely failing to dual the A9 by 2025.

Basically, nothing to do with her government's failings. It's all down to Covid, Brexit and all that. Not her fault at all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp44z71xd7ko

[Mark Hewitt]

I am going to drive up it tomorrow. Any chance it could be dualled before then?!

[Berk]

Sturgeon's apology/non-apology for completely failing to dual the A9 by 2025.

Basically, nothing to do with her government's failings. It's all down to Covid, Brexit and all that. Not her fault at all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp44z71xd7ko

Irrespective of the reasons given, I think 2025 was always a somewhat optimistic date - when you look at similar projects in the UK and elsewhere.

But I can’t help thinking the project has been a distinctly low priority for the SNP government. The old-fashioned planning system certainly hasn’t helped.

The NSIP model in England has largely achieved what it was intended to do. Very few major projects have been heavily challenged - Stonehenge is really the only one, and on flawed grounds at that.

Perhaps if the SNP or another government wanted to spearhead growth in Scotland, they should look at whether Scotland can introduce its own examining model for major national projects.

[jnty]

Sturgeon's apology/non-apology for completely failing to dual the A9 by 2025.

Basically, nothing to do with her government's failings. It's all down to Covid, Brexit and all that. Not her fault at all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp44z71xd7ko

Irrespective of the reasons given, I think 2025 was always a somewhat optimistic date - when you look at similar projects in the UK and elsewhere.

But I can’t help thinking the project has been a distinctly low priority for the SNP government. The old-fashioned planning system certainly hasn’t helped.

The NSIP model in England has largely achieved what it was intended to do. Very few major projects have been heavily challenged - Stonehenge is really the only one, and on flawed grounds at that.

Perhaps if the SNP or another government wanted to spearhead growth in Scotland, they should look at whether Scotland can introduce its own examining model for major national projects.

You may be onto something there, and it's not just major projects where the problems are. Edinburgh council proposed to build about two miles of protected cycle lanes as part of the West-to-East Link in 2012 but the antiquated RSO system led to endless consultations and public inquiries. Ten years later and most parts are complete to pretty much the original design but at double the budget thanks to inflation and lawyers' bills. I think this is another area where the system in England is more permissive. You can see why it's easier for public authorities to just do nothing. It seems to be a similar story with the A9 where relatively minor objections which had very little impact on the final design of the project caused outsized delays.

[C83]

If they dual Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, it'll put pressure on Dunkeld to get done. I hope you like the idea of a roundabout being slapped in at the busiest junction outside Perth and Inverness.

I think the Dunkeld roundabout is a stupid idea, but given that Inveralmond is being ignored during the current works on the Perth Northern Bypass and Broxden which is busier also not showing any sign of upgrade, I'm not in favour of letting it stop the project.