News and Views from Scotland
New Tay Bridge to Revive Perth?
Layout for new Tay Bridge, north of Perth, courtesy Perth and Kinross Council
A new Tay bridge and link road that will "redefine" Perth as a major hub and create thousands of jobs has been approved. See layout in graphic above.
The £113 million Cross Tay Link Road, joining the A93 and the A94 north of Scone to the A9 north of Inveralmond. Work on the project will not start until 2019 and will open in 2022 and will provide a major new route avoiding the City of Perth. Graphic on the right shows one of the two bridges currently crossing the river in the city.
It will pave the way for new development in the Perth area and relieve traffic congestion in the city, which has become a bottleneck on some north-south routes. Perth owes its existence to being a suitable point for a bridge centuries ago and as the city has grown, a second bridge was created (as well as a bridge for the railway).
A report by Jim Valentine, the council's depute chief executive, said that Perth was already a strategic hub in Scotland's roads network but that the danger of traffic grinding to a standstill was hampering economic progress. The graphic on the left shows the existing roundabout at Inveralmond and is ©Des Colhoun via Wikimedia Commons
Scottie, the Rampant Scotland editor, is a frequent visitor to the grounds of Scone Palace which is north of Perth and can vouch for the traffic jams in the central area of the city. He usually makes a detour over the Friarton Bridge (pictured below) which was opened in 1978 to take road traffic going in the direction of Dundee and the north-east and Aberdeen away from the centre of the city. Even though that is a detour when going to Scone and more miles it is preferable at the moment to crawling through Perth!
Friarton Bridge, East of Perth.
Please give me whatever feedback comes to mind via david@rampantscotland.com.
David
February 2017Return to News and Views Index
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