Going on holiday, visiting relatives or travelling for business, Edinburgh people will have had cause to rue the poor state of Scotland’s roads and I don’t just mean potholes.
For far too long has Scotland’s economy suffered because the road network is not up to the standard our cities and key routes need. The A9 to Inverness remains a killer because of the long single carriageway stretches and dualling is decades behind schedule.
Upgrading the A77 and A75 to Stranraer is not only essential for the economy of Southwest Scotland but for Northern Ireland too. And the least said about the inexcusable delay to improving the Sheriffhall Roundabout the better.
I led a debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday to press the SNP government to accelerate the programme of major road improvements, not only because our transport infrastructure is inadequate for the needs of our economy but because lives are being lost needlessly every year.
Yet the SNP seems incapable of progress, so the Scottish Conservatives are proposing emergency legislation to at least fast-track the dualling of the A9 by the end of the next parliament in 2031.
The use of private investment should not be ruled out if it gets the job done, and the anti-motor transport net-zero rhetoric has held us back for too long. The SNP has sat on the Sheriffhall inquiry result for two years and just hopes it will go away.
There has to be a better way forward than the current paralysis and, who knows, maybe the election can deliver it.
