A9 dualling

[Truvelo]

Are these AADT figures based on summer or winter?

[rileyrob]

Isn't AADT Average Annual... In other words, they even out the Summer/Winter disparity. I rather suspect that the Highland Roads are up to 50% busier in peak season, perhaps occasionally 100%, but won't dip that far in the winter, perhaps a low point of about 60-70% of the quoted AADT figures, particularly if Christmas / New Year are excluded, as these are low traffic days across the whole country.
I also suspect that days when the roads are closed due to accidents or snow do not impact on the AADT figures, but are obviously very frustrating with the necessary long diversions, and whilst dualling will not solve the snow problem, they may allow restricted running past an accident.

On that note, does anyone know if regular contraflow crossovers are planned, or is that option not being allowed for?

[FtoE]

When you look at the AADT figures for the A82, as I have said before, there is a clear and valid reason why other routes are given priority. Not to mention the fact that the Crianlarich Bypass opened at Christmas, Pulpit Rock is nearing completion, The Gloy Bends are due to start soon and the numerous bridge replacements undertaken over the last 10 years.
Oh, and the whole 'bad' stretch along Loch Lomond from Tarbet to Ardlui is in planning, some of it may already be in the early stages of the design process.

Yes the A82 is a very poor road in places, but If you exclude the two ends, the highest AADT is through Fort William, where it is about 9000, it drops to around 2600 on Rannoch Moor, and 2700 near Fort Augustus. The A9 reaches a low point of about 7000 at Drumochter Summit, the A96 has a low of 6000 west of Keith.

When you say "through Fort William" do you mean from Ballachulish to Spean or do you mean actually in Fort William - from the Belford to Lochybridge - because I'm sure if it's the latter it must be higher than that?

(And of course that section of A82 that connects the two parts of town has no detour that doesn't involve a small ferry accessed by single-track road or a 160 mile diversion. You'd think the North Road bypass or Caol link road would be a shoe-in in those circumstances - but no, there's a distributor road to build in Inverness instead).

Rant over, sorry.

[Bryn666]

There are S2 A roads down here carrying AADTs of 30,000.

Oh to work in Scotland hey...

[FtoE]

There are S2 A roads down here carrying AADTs of 30,000.

Oh to work in Scotland hey...

Yup. Politicians and Governments of all hues have used it as a stick with which to beat their opponents - until eventually they painted themselves into a corner and have had to dual it.

If vehicle numbers and accident rates really were the concern then money would be spent on the A9 north of Inverness, but that doesn't suit their agenda.

[Mark Hewitt]

Of course there is more to roads than traffic volumes and accident rates. Having reliable journey times on the Perth to Inverness corridor is a big economic advantage.

[FtoE]

Of course there is more to roads than traffic volumes and accident rates. Having reliable journey times on the Perth to Inverness corridor is a big economic advantage.

I'd say it was pretty reliable as it is. I've been travelling up and down the A9 every week for over 25 years. From Longman to Inveralmond takes 2 hours. Other than in snowy weather or on the handful of occasions that the road has been closed I can't remember it ever taking more than 2:15.

To compare - it has taken me 3:50 to get from Central Glasgow to Fort William. Yes, Inverness is a bigger place - but it is already 'booming'. The £3billion this dualling is costing could give many, many, other places all over Scotland reliable journey times and economic advantages.

[rileyrob]

The figure of ~8800 is from the A861 Corran Ferry to the A830 at Lochybridge. The count point could be anywhere along that stretch, indeed it could be an average of more than one. I think it is significantly higher than the stretch south of Corran, so that it is unlikely to be the figure along into FW, although it could be somewhere on Achintore Road. However, I accept that it seems too low for the Bypass or North Road out to Lochybridge.

[novaecosse]

On that note, does anyone know if regular contraflow crossovers are planned, or is that option not being allowed for?

Design a road with future maintenance in mind?

[RichardA35]

On that note, does anyone know if regular contraflow crossovers are planned, or is that option not being allowed for?

Design a road with future maintenance in mind?

Well that is a good way to make the capital cost more expensive for a set of crossovers that will only be used for major maintenance say for about a couple of months in 15 years time.
As a comparison the Bedford Southern bypass is currently being resurfaced with overnight closures, both lanes planed out, traffic back on under a 40 limit in the morning and not a contraflow nor crossover in sight. If the traffic figures are as low as stated there will be no need for major maintenance ever!

[rileyrob]

I was thinking the crossovers would be of use when the road is closed by an accident.

[FtoE]

I was thinking the crossovers would be of use when the road is closed by an accident.

Accidents? On an A9 with Dual-Carriageway Status? Surely not!

[RichardA35]

I was thinking the crossovers would be of use when the road is closed by an accident.

Emergency gates for turning traffic - needs a pretty major incident that will be forecast to last a fair number of hours to implement a plan to open them and evacuate the traffic. Doesn't implement contraflow working as they aren't long enough unless you implement the French system of a mechanised flag waving dummy to bring the traffic down to 10mph to safely cross a ~10m long crossover.
The lining and coning for a (proper) contraflow would take longer to set up than most incidents last. Contraflows are implemented for works that will generally take more than a month to complete - M5 at Bridgwater has had one on and off depending on the phases since before Christmas.

[Burns]

I quite like the look of South C for Dalwhinnie. I've never understood why the simple diamond interchange has fallen out of favour. Although a diamond interchange linking up the A9 to the A889 north of the village would be preferable. Perhaps something like this, only more refined.

[djw1981]

I assumed the diamond with the off / on slips offset was to avoid people not stopping at the end fo the slip road?

[Truvelo]

A diamond there would work well due to the low levels of traffic. I can't see the point of the split junction. If there's going to be two junctions then make them both full access.

[paully]

The Dalwhinnie junction layout is a consultation so if any of you have any opinions on the layout please make sure you're responding with your preferred proposals - there is an email address on the website.

I prefer the North junctions but as stated above I think a diamond is the best layout. The A9/A889 link is a junction between 2 trunk roads and the opportunity should be taken to build it so the A889 doesn't have to go through a village. I would like to see the original junction made exit-only Northbound. Dalwhinnie has a tiny population and (these days) very little in the way of tourist services so I don't see it being a huge problem to almost dead-end the through road.

On the subject of whether the A9 should be dualled, I usually take about 2 hours on a good day (average speed just over 50mph) between Inveralmond and Inverness, but sometimes it can take 2:30. Averaging 70 all the way this would give a journey time of 1:30 - a saving of half an hour against my "good day" time. Ignoring road safety and low AADT, surely it is a worthwhile investment to reduce the journey time by a quarter on a long-distance route?

I agree that work needs done on the A82 (I'd like to see some overtaking lanes on the stretch between Glencoe and Invergarry) and the A96, and there seems to be some political pressure building for the dualling of the A92 from Glenrothes to the Tay Bridge which I think also deserves some attention.

[owen b]

On the subject of whether the A9 should be dualled, I usually take about 2 hours on a good day (average speed just over 50mph) between Inveralmond and Inverness, but sometimes it can take 2:30. Averaging 70 all the way this would give a journey time of 1:30 - a saving of half an hour against my "good day" time. Ignoring road safety and low AADT, surely it is a worthwhile investment to reduce the journey time by a quarter on a long-distance route?

But is it? Let's do the maths : the dualling will cost £3 billion. Let's say the average AADT over the route is 10,000 (seems reasonable based on rileyrob's numbers), that's about 4 million a year, or about 200 million over a 50 year period. £3billion divided by 200 million journeys is £15. So every journey on that stretch of the A9 for the next 50 years will cost £15 just for the cost of the dualling to save 30 minutes per journey. Sorry, but I simply don't think purely on journey saving times it makes economic sense. Would you pay £15 to save 30 minutes every time, on top of the extra fuel costs of going faster?

Quite apart from anything else, if you've £3 billion to spend on roads investment in Scotland, wouldn't it be better to spend it somewhere there will be more benefit?

[Nwallace]

Inverness is growing at a reasonable pace, one of the factors in that pace being restricted and on economic development is the relatively poor transport links in the A9, A96 and HML; all 3 are getting work done on them; the roads are pushed as safety work while the railway is all about speeds and increasing the line capacity.

[FtoE]

Inverness is growing at a reasonable pace, one of the factors in that pace being restricted and on economic development is the relatively poor transport links in the A9, A96 and HML; all 3 are getting work done on them; the roads are pushed as safety work while the railway is all about speeds and increasing the line capacity.

I wish the media and politicians up here were as sober in their description of Inverness's growth! How often do we hear that 'booming' Inverness is 'the fastest growing city in Europe'...

There is little doubt that the hundreds of millions of 70's pounds completely realiging and rebuilding the road from Dunblane to Dornoch has transformed Inverness, it has virtually doubled in size in the last 40 years - but perhaps the £6 billion to be spent could be used to give other parts of the country the advantages that the Inner Moray Firth has enjoyed. Imagine what that money could do to not just to the A82 and A83 to the West Highlands but also the A75 and A77 and roads in the Borders.