Skip to main content

Scottish road upgrade being planned

Plans have been unveiled for a proposed road upgrade project in Scotland. These plans show the preferred route for the upgrade to the A96 between Nairn and Fochabers, towns which lie to the east of Inverness on Scotland’s North East coast. The project is being planned by Transport Scotland and will see the 45km road section being upgraded to dual carriageway status. The work will include building new crossings over the Aberdeen to Inverness rail links, as well as over the Spey, Findhorn and Lossie rivers.
December 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Plans have been unveiled for a proposed road upgrade project in Scotland. These plans show the preferred route for the upgrade to the A96 between Nairn and Fochabers, towns which lie to the east of Inverness on Scotland’s North East coast. The project is being planned by Transport Scotland and will see the 45km road section being upgraded to dual carriageway status.

The work will include building new crossings over the Aberdeen to Inverness rail links, as well as over the Spey, Findhorn and Lossie rivers. Building a bridge over the Spey River will be subject to particularly strict environmental requirements as this river is central to some of Scotland’s most historic whisky distilleries.

Upgrading the A96 is long overdue as the present road does not cope well with traffic demand. The route is also subject to closures in winter, with the upgrade likely to make it easier to clear when conditions are severe. At present just 22km of the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen is of dual carriageway status. The plans call for the remaining 138km of the 160km A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen to be upgraded to dual carriageway status.

Related Content

  • Scotland to retender A9 Tomatin-to-Moy work
    September 14, 2023
    The latest announcement by Transport Scotland means an amended version of the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract will be used.
  • The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, another Danish connection
    June 20, 2017
    The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel between Denmark and Germany is both ambitious and innovative, explains Susanne Kalmar Pedersen, project director at design engineering firm Ramboll, adviser to the client Fehmarn A/S. The ambitious Fehmarnbelt Tunnel - one of Europe’s largest ongoing infrastructure projects - is a priority project within the EU’s Trans European Network (TEN-T) programme. It will link the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland. The tunnel is an 18km immersed combined road and rail l
  • New road reduces Carlisle congestion by 20%
    May 11, 2012
    Carlisle, in north-west England, has seen as 20% reduction in congestion since the opening of the city’s US$284million (£176m) Northern Development Route in February this year. Around 10,000 vehicles a day are using the new road, which is broadly in line with the predictions made by highways engineers when building a case to construct a new route connecting the A595 with the M6 around the western flank of the city. Traffic counters positioned on the new road show an average of 9,583 vehicles a day along the
  • Romania’s important bridge project
    October 5, 2022
    Romania’s important Braila Bridge project will deliver a key crossing spanning the Danube River