A9 dualling

[IAN]

It's interesting to note that they seem to have finally realised that it would be better to upgrade the busier southern sections first - except for an early upgrade for Tomatin to Moy (I don't understand why this section is next on the construction list)

[haggishunter]

It's interesting to note that they seem to have finally realised that it would be better to upgrade the busier southern sections first - except for an early upgrade for Tomatin to Moy (I don't understand why this section is next on the construction list)

Presumably there was a desire to provide a decent length of continuous dual carriageway at each end? Notably Luncarty to Pass of Birnam and Tomatin to Moy both remove a pair of dual to single carriageway transitions each.

Pass of Birnam to (and including) Tay Crossing was along with Tomatin to Moy supposed to be one of the early intervention schemes, locals has other ideas!

Also works already carried out on the railway between Tomatin and Moy to provide a new under bridge that will take one of the left in / left out junctions that form the Moy South junction and allow for double tracking for a dynamic passing loop.

The A9 bridge over the railway at Moy will be replaced to allow double tracking and electrification clearance.

The first phase at Kincraig was chosen as such as it was already well advanced as alternating WS2+1 scheme. Though the removal of the Northbound WS2+1 south of the wildlife park underpass was insane when the objective was increasing safe non conflicting overtaking opportunities - it was resurfaced so could have been a standard 2+1 to avoid the WS2+1 in proximity to dual carriageway.

Often forgotten about is the Crubenmore northern extension, it along with Kincraig to Dalraddy have already made a big difference to what was a long often tedious slog from the Slochd to Drumochter!

I note that some of the links and page content has chanced since my afternoon post, so must have caught the tweet as stuff was being published!

[DaStreetsweep]

Have Made Orders still to be published for 4 sections, or is it down to 3?

[exiled]

Nice typo on the graphic for "A9 Dualling South" for one of the projects - "Procurement begins: Spring 2204"

24 hour clock. Date TBC.

The implication on Radio Scotland's Drive this evening, to my ear, was they want to start inward so that the easier sections can be done at the same time, the central harder section is done on its own.

[jnty]

It's interesting to note that they seem to have finally realised that it would be better to upgrade the busier southern sections first - except for an early upgrade for Tomatin to Moy (I don't understand why this section is next on the construction list)

I agree with your surprise but suspect that, along with being relatively easy, and to provide a continuous D2 at either end as has been said, infill schemes remove two D2-to-S2 transitions which seem, understandably, to be somewhere accidents often happen. I don't know if any of the other schemes provide infill in the same way. Doing the south first is sensible as the section where it doubles as a Perth commuter road is presumably the busiest bit. Is there a similar effect in the north? I could believe traffic levels tick up a bit compared to the middle, but it's not as populated beyond the existing D2 so I'm not sure.

[andypins]

It's interesting to note that they seem to have finally realised that it would be better to upgrade the busier southern sections first - except for an early upgrade for Tomatin to Moy (I don't understand why this section is next on the construction list)

The A9 from Inverness to Aviemore has high usage - comparable to around Pitlochry I believe - Tomatin to Moy links two dualled sections making around 18miles of continuous dualled.
Happy to see any single section done but recognising Perthsire is busy so is the road from Inverness the Capital of the Highlands and not just seasonal tourism. How busy the road is from Inverness south shouldn't be underestimated.

[A9Dan]

Have Made Orders still to be published for 4 sections, or is it down to 3?

There are four in total. Three of which (Killiecrankie to Glen Garry, Crubenmore to Kincraig and Dalraddy to Slochd) have had a ministerial decision confirming that the Orders should be made The fourth (Pass or Birnam to Tay Crossing) has just had its preferred route announced and so is some way off from the publication of Made Orders.

[Mikehannah]

Frankly , given this governments rack record.
If it is. Completed by 2035 the final section will be opened by a fly past of the Red Oinkers, hog display team.

[Burns]

I have an idea for the Dunkeld roundabout. If the residents insist that this stupid option goes forward, signalise it with the A9 north and south at the same time getting a 5 minute run, followed by 6 seconds for right turners and then a further 6 seconds for joining traffic. The cycle times will **** everyone in Dunkeld off and they'll fight for a GSJ.

[haggishunter]

I have an idea for the Dunkeld roundabout. If the residents insist that this stupid option goes forward, signalise it with the A9 north and south at the same time getting a 5 minute run, followed by 6 seconds for right turners and then a further 6 seconds for joining traffic. The cycle times will **** everyone in Dunkeld off and they'll fight for a GSJ.

Just scrap the scheme. Keep the current A9 as the Northbound carriageway then use the road through Birnam and Dunkeld as the Southbound! Not sure if the traffic or one way main road would be more annoying for them!

[jnty]

It's incredible how quickly the "road safety" and "local communities" masks slip when the promise of a continuous 80mph blast is faintly threatened, isn't it?

[haggishunter]

It's incredible how quickly the "road safety" and "local communities" masks slip when the promise of a continuous 80mph blast is faintly threatened, isn't it?

What really is going on at Dunkeld is the Scottish Conservatives orchestrating political games, causing delays and cost escalations, while having Tory friendly press attack Scot Gov for slow progress. Also why should the rest be built to a lower standard so that most of the budget could be spent on a 1.5km tunnel past their village. There needs to be much less opportunity for small local communities to screw the rest of the population as keeps happening with major national infrastructure projects across the UK.

There is currently no interruption to the mainline of the A9 between the Longman Roundabout in Inverness (and plans to bridge it are going through the statutory processes) and Inveralmond in Perth.

It’s just a nonsense to dual the single carriageway sections to provide a modern grade separated safer route, then slap a random roundabout in the middle along with a new at grade junction nearby for a tourist attraction. Given its very nature most users will be one time or occasional visitors that are unfamiliar with the junction.

Not sure quite what your snide comment is aimed at because guess what one of the principle aims of the A9 dualling and Highland Mainline improvements are to speed up travel, both reducing journey times and improving journey time reliability to / from Highland Scotland.

[Summers-lad]

I have an idea for the Dunkeld roundabout. If the residents insist that this stupid option goes forward, signalise it with the A9 north and south at the same time getting a 5 minute run, followed by 6 seconds for right turners and then a further 6 seconds for joining traffic. The cycle times will **** everyone in Dunkeld off and they'll fight for a GSJ.

Just scrap the scheme. Keep the current A9 as the Northbound carriageway then use the road through Birnam and Dunkeld as the Southbound! Not sure if the traffic or one way main road would be more annoying for them!

Southbound A9 traffic through Dunkeld (and slightly less so Birnam) would annoy everyone, not just the locals. Scope for congestion and delays would be massive.

[Summers-lad]

It's incredible how quickly the "road safety" and "local communities" masks slip when the promise of a continuous 80mph blast is faintly threatened, isn't it?

What really is going on at Dunkeld is the Scottish Conservatives orchestrating political games, causing delays and cost escalations, while having Tory friendly press attack Scot Gov for slow progress. Also why should the rest be built to a lower standard so that most of the budget could be spent on a 1.5km tunnel past their village. There needs to be much less opportunity for small local communities to screw the rest of the population as keeps happening with major national infrastructure projects across the UK.

There is currently no interruption to the mainline of the A9 between the Longman Roundabout in Inverness (and plans to bridge it are going through the statutory processes) and Inveralmond in Perth.

It’s just a nonsense to dual the single carriageway sections to provide a modern grade separated safer route, then slap a random roundabout in the middle along with a new at grade junction nearby for a tourist attraction. Given its very nature most users will be one time or occasional visitors that are unfamiliar with the junction.

Not sure quite what your snide comment is aimed at because guess what one of the principle aims of the A9 dualling and Highland Mainline improvements are to speed up travel, both reducing journey times and improving journey time reliability to / from Highland Scotland.

Having looked at the latest update (20 Dec) of TS's A9 dualling website, I see that common sense has prevailed to the extent that the cut and cover tunnel has been scrapped, as has a 50mph speed limit, an appropriate junction has been decided on for Birnam, and direct access from the village to the railway station maintained.
I'm not a fan of roundabouts on main NSL roads (A96 has far too many), especially dual carriageways, but I think that given the constraints of the location, a roundabout for the A822/A926/local access junction makes sense. One roundabout between Inverness and Perth I can live with. Four between Inverurie and the Aberdeen Airport turn (or six if you count both ends) is ridiculous.

[haggishunter]

Just one roundabout it’s a special case. Ok so there’s now one roundabout, a second wouldn’t hurt that much would it? The roundabout needs stamped out, this is a precedent that should not be allowed to be set imo.

[jnty]

Just one roundabout it’s a special case. Ok so there’s now one roundabout, a second wouldn’t hurt that much would it? The roundabout needs stamped out, this is a precedent that should not be allowed to be set imo.

It's a constrained site and a difficult, dangerous junction which regularly queues back on both sides. The A9 at that point is really not that busy in national terms - the roundabout on the A3 at Liss handles twice the traffic and the roundabout-heavy A92 just down the road handles even more than that. There are no plans for permanent roundabouts anywhere else on the A9

Fundamentally, it's not unreasonable to ask for safe and quick motor vehicle access to the wider road network without accepting that you must be surrounded in concrete to prevent twenty seconds of delay to passers-by.

[haggishunter]

Just one roundabout it’s a special case. Ok so there’s now one roundabout, a second wouldn’t hurt that much would it? The roundabout needs stamped out, this is a precedent that should not be allowed to be set imo.

It's a constrained site and a difficult, dangerous junction which regularly queues back on both sides.
....[snip]...

Fundamentally, it's not unreasonable to ask for safe and quick motor vehicle access to the wider road network without accepting that you must be surrounded in concrete to prevent twenty seconds of delay to passers-by.

Well if certain well off local Tory donors and the Scottish Conservatives hadn't been playing games for the past 10 years -both villages would already have safe and quick access to a dualled section of the A9 via a grade separated junction - the scheme was designed and was supposed to have followed on from Kincraig to Dalraddy along with Pass of Birnam to Luncarty which has been completed.

[jnty]

Just one roundabout it’s a special case. Ok so there’s now one roundabout, a second wouldn’t hurt that much would it? The roundabout needs stamped out, this is a precedent that should not be allowed to be set imo.

It's a constrained site and a difficult, dangerous junction which regularly queues back on both sides.
....[snip]...

Fundamentally, it's not unreasonable to ask for safe and quick motor vehicle access to the wider road network without accepting that you must be surrounded in concrete to prevent twenty seconds of delay to passers-by.

Well if certain well off local Tory donors and the Scottish Conservatives hadn't been playing games for the past 10 years -both villages would already have safe and quick access to a dualled section of the A9 via a grade separated junction - the scheme was designed and was supposed to have followed on from Kincraig to Dalraddy along with Pass of Birnam to Luncarty which has been completed.

Can you substantiate those allegations? It would be odd if an SNP-led project pandered so heavily to apparently obvious party political wrangling and found so much community support? The point is presumably that the GSJs you believe should have been built immediately affected local amenity excessively.

The main problem has been the blanket commitment to dualling. Had the junction been the subject of a targeted improvement not long after this all started, a lot of heartache could have been avoided.

[Bryn666]

It's a constrained site and a difficult, dangerous junction which regularly queues back on both sides.
....[snip]...

Fundamentally, it's not unreasonable to ask for safe and quick motor vehicle access to the wider road network without accepting that you must be surrounded in concrete to prevent twenty seconds of delay to passers-by.

Well if certain well off local Tory donors and the Scottish Conservatives hadn't been playing games for the past 10 years -both villages would already have safe and quick access to a dualled section of the A9 via a grade separated junction - the scheme was designed and was supposed to have followed on from Kincraig to Dalraddy along with Pass of Birnam to Luncarty which has been completed.

Can you substantiate those allegations? It would be odd if an SNP-led project pandered so heavily to apparently obvious party political wrangling and found so much community support? The point is presumably that the GSJs you believe should have been built immediately affected local amenity excessively.

The main problem has been the blanket commitment to dualling. Had the junction been the subject of a targeted improvement not long after this all started, a lot of heartache could have been avoided.

Most of the dodgy A9 junctions could've easily been S2 GSJs as the rest of the world copes with but once again our exceptionalism means you either build a stupid roundabout or a giant quasi free flowing monster with no scope for something sensible in-between.

[Nwallace]

Grade separated S2 would not have been politically acceptable in the slightest.




Sent from my IV2201 using Tapatalk