Press Release from the ‘Dual The A75 Campaign’
Dual The A75 campaign have found a document dating back to the 10th of October 2006 from the Planning and Environmental Services Committee of the Dumfries and Galloway Council which states in a prioritized options list that dualling the A75 would be a project to be progressed further.
The document highlights a grand total of 77 transport specific projects are divided into three sections, the red section, the amber section and the green section. Dualling the A75 lies in the green section, a section which is dedicated to further developing projects, and is ranked 4th and 5th in terms of priority out of 77 transport specific projects.
The campaign group feel frustrated that dualling the A75 was identified as a main priority by the committee over a decade ago and yet there has only been one 1.5 miles dualling project carried out on the route since this document was published in 2006. The group does recognise that there has been other overtaking schemes put in place over the last decade however feel unsatisfied with the amount of investment the route has received compared to other parts of the country, notably the M73/M74/M8 improvements and the dualling projects which are being carried out along the A9 and A96 in the north.
Although the group believes lack of funding is the answer as to why this priority never went ahead, the group wants to know as to why shovel ready projects were not instated along the A75 so when funding did become available then these projects could be carried out swiftly and quickly.
The group is in contact with politicians about this document and is trying to establish other reasons as to why dualling of the A75 has still not begun even though was identified as a crucial priority over a decade ago.
