Keith bypass public exhibition
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IT COULD four years before a route is decided for a dual carriageway bypass for Keith.
More than 200 people attended an A96 dualling exhibition in the Longmore Hall this week.
The Scottish Government wants to dual the entire A96 from Aberdeen to Inverness by 2030.
For the central section, which will cover the 31km stretch from the east of Fochabers to the east of Huntly, by-passing Keith, it will be 2019 before stage two begins, explained Alasdair Graham, Transport Scotland’s A96 dualling manager.
"The route has been split into three geographic parts. The western section, from the east of Nairn to Fochabers, will move to stage two, looking at route options, early in 2016. And the mid section, from the east of Huntly to where it would tie in with the dual carriageway west of Aberdeen, will start stage two mid-2016," said Mr Graham.
The section involving Keith, however, would not begin stage two until 2019. "That doesn’t necessarily mean that the central section will be last to be constructed. The commitment from the Scottish Government is to see the whole route dualled by 2030," he said.
Although route options are some way off, the initial work done and shown at the drop-in exhibition on Tuesday suggests that there is only one route the dual carriageway will take through Keith, which would go round the west of the town and potentially through the golf course."
