FERGUS EWING: Time for the Highlands to get more of the transport budget?
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The excellent coverage by this newspaper of tragic loss of life on the A9 has reverberated widely and well beyond the Highlands.
The news of the loss of a young man of just 18 has distressed huge numbers of people. Many raised it with me when out and about in Inverness on Saturday morning.
Of course, a few readers have rightly pointed out that there is no such thing as a “killer road”. True. It’s human error that, sadly, causes incidents. But what is also undoubtedly true, is that the single carriageways are unforgiving of driver error. With nothing in the middle of the road to separate traffic in different directions, the risk of head-on collisions is far, far greater, and the consequences are more serious.
Expert studies suggest that these risks are in general terms, three times greater on single than dual carriageways, and no less than 10 times greater than on motorways.
So in the Highlands, the grisly truth is that you and I, and our families, who drive the A9 regularly, are at far greater risk than if we drove along the M8, for example.
But also on the A9, in addition to that general extra risk, the junctions at places like Kingussie, Aviemore and Carrbridge are all sadly associated with incidents occurring. Moreover, the large numbers of foreign drivers unfamiliar with driving on the left or with our Highway Code, and especially over the summer months, poses yet a further risk to add to this dreadful cocktail.
The next main step in the campaign to dual the A9, is the short hearing to be convened by the Petitions Committee in Holyrood, of which I am a member. That hearing starts next week on the morning of June 14 with the petitioner Laura Hansler, from Kingussie, and Grahame Barn who represents the civil contractors industry.
I have worked with both of them for some time now and believe that they will set the scene very well. They will not only describe the gravity of the situation but also come forward with potential solutions for the speediest delivery of the work.
We will then hear from senior Transport Scotland officials. I have already said that their mode of contracting and their passage of all risks of unforeseen costs, such as site investigations grounds work, to the contractor – whilst well motivated to protect the public purse – has now had the consequences of deterring companies from bidding.
That is partly, I think, what occurred in the Tomatin to Moy procurement.
But do we know? No, we do not. Why not? We should already. This is of huge public importance. Personally I think that out of transparency, ministers (now three transport ministers in two years!) and Transport Scotland should volunteer to make public all their advice and documentation to show what has happened, why they made decisions and how we now put that right.
After the summer recess, we will take evidence from the new transport minister Kevin Stewart.
I was asked last week to comment on the work to the “Rest and be Thankful” (RBT) and whether the A9 was a greater priority. I argued that both must be upgraded and its wrong to postulate a false choice between the two. Rather the question is: Is it not time for the whole of rural and Highland Scotland to get a shout from the transport budget? Just look at the billions spent on motorways in Glasgow and the central belt, trams, Forth crossing, Borders railway, and Aberdeen peripheral road. All the slices of the transport budget cake which we were promised ended up there not here!
The difference between the A9 and RBT, is, though, that all but one of the remaining sections of the A9 are now ready to go – having undergone all legal processes. The RBT is some years from that stage. There is no preferred route or choice nor legal orders made for land acquisition and ancillary works. So we are ready – like the top Formula One driver in pole position – along with the A96 from Smithton to Auldearn – and the challenge and real questions to the Scottish Government are:
n Will they for several years between now until 2030 and beyond if necessary, put their capital budget into our projects, and not central belt ones?
n Will the huge SNP majority tell the Green minuscule minority: “We are in charge, not you”?
We shall see.
