A church delegation is to meet transport minister Keith Brown for talks in the wake of their demands for urgent action over one of Scotland’s most dangerous roads.
Representatives from the Free Church of Scotland will discuss the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness when they meet Mr Brown on Thursday.
The development comes after 14 Free Church ministers from the Highlands wrote an open letter to the MSP calling for the notorious road to be upgraded “as a matter of utmost urgency”.
The Scottish Government has already pledged to upgrade the A9 – the main road to the Highlands – to dual carriageway by 2025, with a £3 billion project to convert 80 miles of the road.
But accidents on the road have led to various calls for that work to be carried out more quickly. Mr Brown wrote to Reverend Colin Macleod, inviting him for the meeting, which will take place in the Scottish Parliament.
Rev Macleod, Moderator of the Presbytery of Inverness, Lochaber and Ross, said he would be making the case for fast-tracking the dualling of the road to the Government.
He said: “There is a growing consensus that the dualling of this stretch of the A9 as quickly as possible is the most sensible option and one which is likely to substantially reduce fatalities and collisions on this road.
“Whilst we fully appreciate the dualling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness is not a simple project, we are hoping to convince the Scottish Government to fast-track these plans and bring the date for completion forward.
“We know this is not just an issue affecting Free Church folk, but all of our communities across the Highlands, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of people visiting the region every year.”
In their open letter last week, the clergy said they had no wish to conduct any more funerals caused by the sudden loss of life from accidents on the road.
They said they had seen “families being torn apart after loved ones have died in utterly devastating circumstances” and that it was their Christian duty to speak out “and prevent the unnecessary loss of life”.
Last month, a crash involving two cars killed three people on the A9 near Kingussie in the Highlands.
Plans to install average speed cameras along the road, at a cost of £2.5 million, were subsequently announced by Mr Brown, with the cameras – which will be installed from Dunblane to Inverness – expected to be fully operational by next summer.
The Scottish Government said they were looking forward to next week’s meeting.
A spokesman said: “We are the first administration to commit to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness – the biggest transport infrastructure project, by cost, in Scotland’s history.
“Although this work is progressing, the fact remains that dualling the A9 is complex and challenging. It involves a detailed planning and consultation process before construction can begin.
“Each section represents a major project in its own right and these require in-depth design and preparation to ensure that the impact on communities, businesses and the environment is kept to the absolute minimum.
“We are absolutely determined that motorists should see improvements on the route as soon as possible and we will look for opportunities to bring work forward.
“Through that commitment we are already on target to complete the Kincraig to Dalraddy scheme in 2017 and the Luncarty to Birnam scheme in 2019 – these will bring significant benefits long before 2025.”
In the meantime, the A9 safety group has come up with various measures to improve road safety by tackling poor driving, the spokesman added.