COMMENT

Published in The Herald, Thursday 7th August 2008 as 'Days of major road schemes are over'

Dear Sir

We welcome the commitment to improving the railway from the Central Belt to Inverness ('Salmond pledge to spell out A9 plans', 6th August). This is long overdue. Now is the time to bring this Victorian railway into the modern era.

Rail is 27 times safer as a means of travel than the car and it is essential that schemes such as this are fast-tracked to give people a real, and safer, alternative to driving. In terms of the accident rate on the A9 road, the best short-term solution is to invest in average speed cameras along the length of the road, as this technology is proven to reduce accidents and save lives. We already know that such technology on the A77 has cut deaths by 50%.

Looking to the medium-term, two key factors will dictate how and where we travel. These are the need to control climate change emissions coupled with the imperative to reduce our dependency on oil. Both factors dictate that we need to shift to much more sustainable means of travel and that is where our future transport investment must be focused. The days of further major road building schemes are over - and the sooner we accept this reality, the better it will be for our future prosperity and well-being.

Future transport investment should be concentrated on better connecting our local communities by walking and cycling routes, coupled with improvements to local public transport services. Our cities should be connected by modern electric railways, and that should now be the prime focus for routes north to Aberdeen and Inverness as well as across the Central Belt.

Paul Tetlaw
Chair, Transform Scotland