MSP pushes for more safety work on A9 north

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, wants to see more safety work carried out on the A9 north of Inverness.

The call comes after Mrs Grant tabled questions in the Scottish Parliament asking when routine maintenance of white lineage and bollards was last carried out at each junction on the A9 between Inverness and Thurso and when the next routine maintenance is scheduled to be carried out at each of the junctions.

Rhoda Grant said “Sadly the A9 is renowned throughout the country for the number of fatalities and serious accidents that take place on the road each year. While much of the focus is on the A9 south, the road north from Inverness must not be forgotten by the Scottish Government.

The MSP, who has campaigned to have improvements introduced at the Munlochy junction, the Tore roundabout and the Aldi and Lidl junctions at Tain continued “While the answers I received look quite constructive at first glance, in reality, they detail only three projects earmarked to be carried out on the A9 north in the next two years.

Mrs Grant continued “Every death on this road is a tragedy which wrecks the lives of the families and communities whose loved ones are involved.

“While the road fundamentally requires millions of pounds of investment, it is within the gift of the Scottish Government to ensure the funding is provided to carry out routine maintenance at the junctions along the A9.

She concluded “I know from my inbox the strength of feeling there is about the level of investment needed on both local authority and trunk roads in the Highlands and I will continue to press the Scottish Government to provide adequate ringfenced funding to Highland Council and to Transport Scotland to allow them to adequately upkeep the road network in the north and introduce safety measures where needed.”