A9 and A96 trunk road upgrades under review
- Published
Stretches of the A9, Scotland's longest trunk road, are being upgraded to dual carriageway
The dualling of the A9 and A96 form part of a wide-ranging Scottish government review of major transport projects, Transport Scotland has said.
Work to build new dual carriageway on the A9 between Inverness and Perth is due to be completed in 2025.
Dualling the A96 from Inverness to Aberdeen is to be finished by 2030.
Scottish Green MSP John Finnie said the government was making a "bold statement" by reviewing road-building.
The Strategic Transport Projects Review, which is being done at the same time as a review of the National Transport Strategy, will set out future major investment priorities for Scotland.
'Up for debate'
Mr Finnie asked about the future of the two projects at the Scottish Parliament's connectivity committee.
He asked Transport Scotland's director of roads Hugh Gillies: "For the avoidance of doubt is there a review of whether we are going to continue with the dualling of the A9 and A96?"
Mr Gillies said: "What I will say is that all of this is up for debate as part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review."
Later in a statement, Transport Scotland said the Scottish government was committed to dualling the trunk roads.
A spokesman said: "When complete these ambitious programmes will bring many benefits to local communities, businesses, visitors and road users living, travelling and working along the routes.
"These include reduced journey times, improved journey time reliability and, crucially, improved road safety for all users."
Longest trunk road
The A9 stretches for about 245 miles (394km) from central Scotland to Scrabster near Thurso in Caithness.
It is Scotland's longest and the UK's fifth longest trunk road.
Of the about 110 miles (177km) of road between Inverness and Perth, only about 30 miles (48km) is dual carriageway.
New stretches of dual carriageway have been added and the overall project costing £3bn is due to be completed in about five years' time.
Separately, there is also work under way to improve the road at the Berriedale Braes in Caithness.
Transport Scotland also plans to dual the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, involving the upgrade of 86 miles (138km) of single carriageway between the two cities.
The A96 passes through the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire.