Skip to main content

Mott MacDonald Sweco JV to design part of A96 dualling, Scotland

A Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture has been appointed by Transport Scotland to carry out route option assessment and detailed design work for dualling of the A96 highway between Hardmuir and Fochabers. The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of Inverness and Aberdeen. In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure i
June 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A 2579 Mott MacDonald and 3392 Sweco joint venture has been appointed by 4068 Transport Scotland to carry out route option assessment and detailed design work for dualling of the A96 highway between Hardmuir and Fochabers.

The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of  Inverness and Aberdeen.

In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure investment over the coming decades.

The plan noted that dualling 86 miles of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, by 2030, was a key investment. The Hardmuir to Fochabers section of the road consists mainly of single-lane carriageway through or close to various towns and villages that suffered regular traffic bottlenecks.

The joint venture will begin design and assessment work that could take up to two years to complete. There will be a number of grade separated junctions where bypasses are created for a number of communities, such as Forres and Elgin. There will also be crossings of the River Findhorn, the River Lossie and the River Spey, as well as the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line.

Iain Scott, contract director for the Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture, said that the contract “builds on our long established collaborative relationship with Transport Scotland”.

Mott MacDonald is a €1.76 billion global management, engineering and development firm. Sweco, a Sweden-based engineering and architecture consultancy, has sales of €1.7 billion.

The joint venture was established in 2010 bringing together the broad experience of Mott MacDonald and Sweco, formerly Grontmij. The joint venture has been involved in improvement works around junction 10 of the M20 motorway in county Kent in England. It also worked on the introduction of the smart motorway on the M5 in the English Midlands.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Boost to infrastructure, autonomous cars in UK budget
    March 17, 2016
    The UK chancellor announced in his spring budget what he called the biggest investment, US$87.5 billion (£61 billion), in transport infrastructure in generations and is increasing capital investment in the transport network by 50 per cent over this Parliament compared to the last. The government plans to establish the UK as a global centre for excellence in connected and autonomous vehicles by establishing a US$24.1 million (£15 million) ‘connected corridor’ from London to Dover to enable vehicles to com
  • Stonehenge tunnel project being designed
    April 12, 2017
    Consultant AECOM is now working with Highways England on improvements to the busy A303 in the UK. The road upgrades will be carried out between Amesbury and Berwick South Down along a 13km section of the A303 route. AECOM will work with its supply chain partners Mace and Mouchel on the project. As the current alignment for the A303 passes just 165m from the Stonehenge World Heritage site (WHS), there is a strong need to redevelop the route so that it causes less harm to this important archaeological area. T
  • UK motorway upgrade underway
    December 14, 2015
    A fleet of Hitachi short-tailswing excavators have been working on the M3 smart motorway project in the counties of Hampshire and Surrey in England. Eight ZX135US-5 and ZX225USLC-5 excavators owned by Skyland Drainage Contractors, and a further two ZX225USLC-5s owned by Davey Civils, have been employed on the subcontractors’ drainage works. Having previously hired Zaxis excavators, Kent-based Davey Civils has been a Hitachi customer for one year. Both models were supplied with service contracts from Hita
  • Colas drives measures to improve safety in Area 7 workzones
    December 11, 2015
    A pilot scheme in the United Kingdom by Colas and Solar and Electric Gates (S&EG) is using a new automatic gate to help protect operatives in Area 7 work zones. The Readi-Guard has been developed for the joint venture A-one+, led by infrastructure contractor Costain. Colas and S&EG joined forces to engineer the gate system, which opens horizontally to allow authorised vehicles into work areas. It safeguards workers because manual gate operation is not required. “The TM Access Gate is a well thought