Welcome to the Spring 2024 A9 Dualling Newsletter – the inaugural edition. Thank you for your interest and signing up to our A9 Dualling website, which launched in February. The site will develop and grow as we appoint contractors and construction work for further projects gets underway.  These quarterly newsletters aim to provide a summary of what’s been happening across the dualling programme over the preceding three months, to keep you informed and updated.

Engaging with Stakeholders on Delivery Plan

Meeting stakeholders was one of our first priorities after announcing the delivery plan for A9 Dualling in Parliament on 20^th December 2023. On 16^th January 2024 we met 16 MSPs to provide a briefing on the dualling programme, and this was followed by a  briefing in Inverness with a range of stakeholders, on 14^th February 2024. Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop MSP, opened the briefing and answered questions from stakeholders alongside officials from Transport Scotland’s A9 Dualling team.

That afternoon, the same venue opened to the public for a drop in exhibition, which then moved on to Aviemore, Dalwhinnie, Pitlochry and Perth. A total of 335 people visited these exhibitions and we appreciated the interest in the dualling programme and the broad range of questions that were asked.   The exhibition material can be viewed here.

As well as engaging with stakeholders on the overall dualling programme, we have been working hard to progress projects in line with the Delivery Plan:

Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing

Following announcement of the preferred route option on 20^th December 2023, we held online and public exhibitions to show the preferred route option for the Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing project.  Over 200 people attended over two days at Birnam Arts Centre, Dunkeld on 29^th and 30^th January  2024. In addition, over 2500 visitors logged on to the online exhibition, including 1300 visitors to the StoryMap, and over 100 feedback forms were received. Work is continuing towards publication of Draft Orders next year.

Tay Crossing to Ballinluig

We published a Prior Information Notice on 16^th April 2024, indicating our intention to commence procurement in Spring 2024.  Before procurement started we held a short  market consultation with interested parties and hosted a virtual industry information event for interested construction firms and their supply chains, which included a short welcome from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport.  The Contract Notice formally commencing the procurement was published on 24^th May 2024 and we expect to award the contract for construction of this project in Summer 2025.  

Preparations are also continuing for a number of advance works ahead of the main contractor being appointed, including utility diversions, tree felling, ecological mitigation, and ground and archaeological investigation works.

Tomatin to Moy

The streamlined procurement competition to appoint the main works contractor for the Tomatin to Moy project is in the final stages with three participants still engaged in the process. We expect to award the contract for construction of this project in early summer 2024.

Ahead of this, pre-construction survey work has been undertaken on site by our project technical advisors with vegetation and ecological surveys being completed during March and April 2024. The findings of these surveys will be available to inform the appointed contractor’s approach to the works, helping ‘de-risk’ the construction programme.

Image of one of the ecological survey sites

Our team was delighted to attend a Strathdearn Community Council Meeting in April 2024, where they gave a presentation on the project and next steps. In May we attended a ‘roundtable’ event hosted by Strathdearn Community Developments to engage further with stakeholders in the area.

Thanks for reading our first quarterly newsletter – the next edition will be issued towards the end of Summer 2024.

A9 Dualling Team