Moray A96: ‘We may be worse off now’
Communities along the A96 are being warned not to expect dual carriageway bypasses for their towns.
Chartered civil engineer Dave Gowans worked on the project to dual the route between Aberdeen and Inverness for five years, as well as several other trunk road projects.
He also managed the design and construction of Moray’s £180 million flood defences.
However, based on announcements from ministers, he is convinced the whole route will not be dualled.
Around £37 million has already been spent on preparation work for two sections – Kintore to south of Huntly plus Hardmuir near Auldern to Fochabers.
But both were put on hold in 2021 for a review of the A96 corridor to be carried out.
The results of this were originally expected by the end of 2022.
Although Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, then said this spring that the report was imminent, there is still no sign of it.
The official reason for the delay is so 4,600 responses, generating 11,000 options to improve the corridor, can be sifted through.
But Mr Gowans feels this would not stand serious scrutiny and the hold-up is more likely political rather than technical.
Instead, he states it was clear there were funding issues as far back as 2018 when the Fochabers section was not progressed in line with the timetable.
Mr Gowans said: “I’m speculating, but in my experience Transport Scotland’s press statements are carefully worded.
“There is no commitment to dual carriageway bypasses, so it’s possible that Elgin and Keith bypasses will be single carriageway with roundabout junctions.
“I think this is the most likely scenario.
“It’s quite sad that after spending so much on studies and appraisal work – taking Hardmuir to Fochabers to draft order stage, and Kintore to south of Huntly to preferred option – that these schemes are likely to be discarded.
“Ironically we may be worse off now than had the dualling scheme never been started.
“That’s because … other schemes to improve safety and improve flow would have been dropped.
“Instead, the A96 has had little investment in recent years.”
Mr Gowans called Transport Scotland’s procurement process “laborious and time-consuming”, leaving contractors reluctant to bid for work.
Speaking in June last year, Grahame Barn, the chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association for Scotland, branded Transport Scotland the “worst” client to work for in the UK
That was in connection to the lengthy delays to the A9 dualling.
However Mr Gowans is pleased the section from Inverness including a Nairn bypass is being progressed.
Although he felt the transport agency has “procrastinated” in moving to the construction stage.
