A9: Delayed 2035 completion date for dualling road 'very realistic', says key Scottish minister

Fiona Hyslop said the Scottish Government "has as much confidence as we can" that the entire road between Perth and Inverness will be dual carriageway by 2035, at a cost of £3.7 billion.

The Scottish Government announced the new timetable for fully dualling the road on Wednesday after admitting its initial target of 2025 is not achievable.

Ms Hyslop told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "I think we can be confident because we have a delivery plan that sets out route by route when we'll be moving into that procurement and contracting, and we'll be moving next year into yet another of the sections and that will be the Tay-Ballinluig part of the route.

"So we can have as much confidence as we can. These are challenging times, we had a 10% cut in our infrastructure budget, but the A9 is being given this priority by this Government to ensure that this delivery plan can give as much confidence as we can on that delivery.

"It matters because the A9 is the backbone of the Scottish economy going up to the Highlands. I think in terms of that activity, that will be welcomed."