Roads of Broken Promises - Highland Communities Stuck at the Lights

9th January 2026

For years, Highland communities have been told that relief was just around the corner. The A9 would be dualled by 2025.

The A96 would be transformed into a safer, faster artery. The Nairn bypass would finally free families from endless queues at the lights. These were not vague aspirations — they were cast-iron pledges, repeated in manifestos, speeches, and government documents.

Yet the facts now stand in brutal contrast to the promises. The A9 dualling deadline has slipped a full decade, to 2035. The A96 dualling remains mired in indecision, with no clear timetable. And the Nairn bypass, first promised in 2009, has been exposed as unfunded until at least 2031.

Fergus Ewing's Fury
Few voices have captured the sense of betrayal as sharply as Fergus Ewing MSP. He branded the government's handling of the Nairn bypass "sleekit" — accusing ministers of knowing for years that the project would not be delivered this decade, yet failing to tell the public. He went further, calling it the "granddaddy of all undelivered Scottish Government pledges."

Ewing’s words resonate because they dramatize what many Highlanders feel: promises have become mirages in the mist, while the reality is congestion, accidents, and economic drag.

The Human Cost of Delay
Safety: The A9 and A96 remain among Scotland’s deadliest trunk roads. Each year of delay is measured not in budget lines but in lives lost.

Economy: Haulage firms, tourism operators, and local businesses are stuck in bottlenecks, losing time and money.

Community trust: Families in Nairn still wait at the lights, watching bypass pledges stall in the slow lane.

Promises vs. Facts

Project Promise Reality

A9 Dualling Fully dualled by 2025
Delayed to 2035, accidents continue

A96 Dualling Commitment to full dualling Still undecided, no clear timeline

Nairn Bypass Promised in 2009, reaffirmed 2011 No funding until 2031

A Pattern of Stealth Delay
The Highland roads saga is not just about asphalt and junctions. It is about credibility. Governments have mastered the art of stealth delay: pledges announced with fanfare, but quietly parked when budgets are drawn up. The gap between rhetoric and reality is now so wide that communities feel abandoned.

The bypass at Nairn is more than a road. It is a red light on trust. While engines idle and families wait, promises burn fuel and confidence runs dry. Unless funding is brought forward, the bypass risks becoming not just a road delayed, but a monument to political procrastination.