Hauliers welcome Scottish road plans PLANS TO dual a major
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trunk road between Inverness and Aberdeen have been welcomed by hauliers in the area, who said an improved route would cut journey times and fuel usage.
The plans, which were taken forward by Transport Scotland last week, include the full dualling of the A96, a proposed bypass around Nairn, and possible options for bypasses around Forres, Elgin, Keith and Inverurie by 2030.
Donnie McDonald, depot manager at DR Macleod's Inverness depot, said a dual carriageway would significantly cut journey times on its daily route to Aberdeen. "Any dual carriageway would help as there are [mostly] single carriageway roads around here," he said.
W & H Leslie (Aberdeen), which operates a daily service to Inverness, said the idea of a Nairn bypass was the most important part of the proposals for the operator. Director Alasdair Henderson told CM: "There will be fewer traffic jams as Nairn is usually a bit of a bottleneck area."
Plans to dual the A96 were first unveiled in Transport Scotland's 2011 Infrastructure Investment Plan, but transport minister Keith Brown revealed last week that initial design work for the 86 miles of improvements has started.