Douglas Lumsden has called for the Scottish Government to make saving lives a priority by upgrading the dangerous junction on the A90 Toll of Birness. This follows the omission of the junction from the Scottish Government’s Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2) paper.
“Earlier this year, the Scottish Government released its national transport strategy. And as identified by my colleague Liam Kerr, the document failed to mention the notorious Toll of Birness junction.”
“Upgrading the junction and the wider A90 will not only make a huge difference to the lives of those living and working in the North East, serving as a catalyst for economic growth, but will come with the potential of dramatically reducing the number of horrific accidents and saving lives”
Following Douglas’ call for upgrades Scottish Transport Minister said safety improvements could come as part of the wider STPR2 road safety recommendation. However, the SNP East Lothian MSP Paul McLellan added that any road improvements “must be considered in terms of the potential environmental impact”.
Arguing that the Transport Minister has the opportunity to do what her predecessors have fail to Douglas said that the “Toll of Birness must be included in the final STPR2 report along with Cortes to help avert any more serious or fatal accidents occurring at these dangerous junctions”
“People using this road will be disgusted to hear SNP MSPs from East Lothian arguing about the environmental impact of a safety measure
That needs to be the utmost priority – not weighing lives of people in the North East against navel-gazing among the SNP.”
