Transport Scotland to assess Inverness-Aberdeen travel revamp

Sixteen options aimed at improving travel from Inverness to Aberdeen are to be assessed by Transport Scotland.

They include dualling 86 miles of single carriageway of the A96 trunk road between the two cities.

Other options involve rail upgrades, schemes to improve bus services and developing a continuous traffic-free path from Inverness to Aberdeen.

A consultation found public dissatisfaction with safety and journey times between the cities.

Known as the A96 corridor, the route, which is more than 100 miles, crosses parts of the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire, and serves communities such as Nairn, Forres, Elgin, Fochabers, Keith, Huntly and Inverurie.

Transport Scotland has published reports on a public consultation and an initial appraisal of the travel corridor.

The consultation, which received almost 4,700 responses, suggested about 88% of respondents were dissatisfied with safety on the A96. It found 76% were also unhappy with journey times.

There were also high levels of dissatisfaction with bus journey times, cycle safety and the cost of rail travel.

More than 11,000 suggestions on how to improve travel were generated by the consultation and these have been whittled down to 16 options, which Transport Scotland will now look at in detail.

The agency said the Scottish government was committed to a pledge, first made 11 years ago, to dual the whole of the A96. Only a short section at Inverness, and the stretch between Inverurie and Aberdeen, are currently dual carriageway.

Under a partnership with the Scottish Greens, the SNP has agreed to undertake an environmental impact assessment of the road project.

As well as the plan to make the entire A96 dual carriageway, Transport Scotland will look at how to cut journey times and improve the frequency of services on the railway between Inverness and Aberdeen.

It will also assess proposals to create rail freight terminals at Keith and Elgin, and potential locations for new park-and-ride facilities.

Transport Scotland A96 programme manager, Sandy Jamieson, said: "It is vitally important to listen and understand the views and experiences of local people and those that travel along the corridor.

"These views have helped us understand how the A96 corridor is used, given the climate emergency and the changes to everyone's lives following the pandemic - and the extent to which these challenges will impact how people travel on the A96 in the future."

Mr Jamieson said Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth would organise a meeting early next year for north and north-east MSPs to hear directly from the A96 corridor project team.