Meeting of the Parliament 28 November 2024
I begin my statement by expressing my sincerest sympathies to the families of anyone who has been killed or injured on our roads. In particular, my thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved in recent incidents, including the fatal accident on the A96 east of Brodie on 11 November.
Road safety remains of paramount importance to the Government, and that is reflected in our ambition to have zero deaths or serious injuries on our roads by 2050, with an interim target to halve the number of people killed or seriously injured on the road by 2030.
The Government is also whole-heartedly committed to improving transport infrastructure in the north and north-east of Scotland, including the A96 corridor. In recent years, we have invested almost £1 billion in delivering many improvements to the strategic road network in that area, including the Aberdeen western peripheral route, the A92/A96 Haudagain improvement, the A96 Fochabers and Mosstodloch bypass and the A96 Inveramsay bridge, among others. In addition, the £3.7 billion A9 dualling programme is moving forward, with the construction contract for the Tomatin to Moy section awarded in July this year. The procurement competition for the Tay crossing to Ballinluig section is continuing, with contract award scheduled for summer 2025.
Members will be aware that the Bute house agreement required that an A96 corridor review be conducted. Although that agreement has ended, MSPs of all parties have continued to call for that review to be published, and today I am fulfilling an obligation to publish the full A96 corridor review for consideration by MSPs and the public.
The corridor review includes extensive and detailed appraisal and assessment work that has been undertaken by Transport Scotland. The extensive review reporting consists of more than 2,000 pages, and it is my intention to invite interested MSPs to a round-table briefing session with me and Transport Scotland officials. I consider it appropriate to provide the public and other stakeholders with ample opportunity to fully consider the findings from the detailed work that Transport Scotland has undertaken before providing their feedback. I note that the review itself contains information on full dualling. The review will therefore be subject to a 12-week consultation on its contents.
The Scottish Government’s current plan is to fully dual the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen and, as part of that process, Transport Scotland has been undertaking a transparent and evidence-based review of the programme.