A9 Dualling from Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing

A brief history for those new to the community - and for those not so new!
In May 2016 the Birnam to Ballinluig A9 Community Group (A9CG) emerged from a Community Council A9 Working Group. There were 452 responses to a Community Survey about the dualling plans here. Transport Scotland (TS) committed to a “Co-Creative Process” for in depth community consultation. Co-Creative discussions started in Sept 2017 with Planning Aid Scotland (PAS) as facilitators.
Some 236 residents attended “Big Community Ask” events in late 2017 to help set Community Objectives, while The Children’s Parliament worked with P6/7 pupils at Royal School of Dunkeld. The Community Objectives that emerged were: Reduce noise and pollution; Protect and enhance the area’s landscape and natural heritage; Provide safe access to and from the A9 and improve safety on village roads; Provide sustainable economic growth; Improve provision for cycling and walking; Bus services and train services maintained and improved; Preserve and enhance historic and cultural features.
The Co-Creative process until mid 2018 resulted in the “Community Preferred Route“ (CPR), when over 700 people voted. The Scottish Govt would decide a final route design for this A9 section after detailed assessment (DMRB2) by Transport Scotland/ Jacobs to ascertain the feasibility of the CPR (shown below). That decision was originally expected by end 2018.
Transport Scotland and Jacobs then held community exhibitions in March and May 2019 to show some new route design ideas and comparator Whole Route Options, for assessment alongside the CPR. This was not well explained and the community’s confidence that the process would deliver our objectives and the CPR dropped.
The A9CG met then-Cabinet Secretary Michael Matheson in July 2019 to discuss these concerns and he suggested that TS and the A9CG have further dialogue and negotiation. Workshops from Nov 2019 to Jan 2020 aimed to better understand TS/Jacobs concerns with the CPR and to examine their additional design options. The Covid pandemic slowed things down in 2020.
Increased tourist traffic afterwards and growing concerns about risks and safety at the A9 junctions sparked the birth in early 2021 of the Birnam and Dunkeld Junctions Action Group, which has intensively engaged with the roads operations part of TS for safety improvements, particularly since local area fatalities occurred in late 2022. Transport Minister Graeme Dey was briefed in mid 2021, again with John Swinney MSP who has been consistently supportive. Meanwhile in 2021-2022 a Community Action Plan emerged from a PH8 area community survey and consultation, which showed rising concerns amongst local residents and businesses about the lack of certainty about the A9 dualling and about junction safety issues.
In early 2023, the Cabinet Secretary said that a dualling preferred route would be announced in the spring but changes at both Cabinet and Ministerial level, including the resignation of Transport Minister Kevin Stewart in early June just after a briefing meeting in Birnam with him, have put that back again. Briefings with new Cabinet Secretary/Minister awaited!
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A9 Dualling from Pass of Birnam to Tay Crossing – the Story Since 2016

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