A 2579 Mott MacDonald and 3392 Sweco joint venture has been appointed by 4068 Transport Scotland to carry out route option assessment and detailed design work for dualling of the A96 highway between Hardmuir and Fochabers.
The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of Inverness and Aberdeen.
In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure investment over the coming decades.
The plan noted that dualling 86 miles of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, by 2030, was a key investment. The Hardmuir to Fochabers section of the road consists mainly of single-lane carriageway through or close to various towns and villages that suffered regular traffic bottlenecks.
The joint venture will begin design and assessment work that could take up to two years to complete. There will be a number of grade separated junctions where bypasses are created for a number of communities, such as Forres and Elgin. There will also be crossings of the River Findhorn, the River Lossie and the River Spey, as well as the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line.
Iain Scott, contract director for the Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture, said that the contract “builds on our long established collaborative relationship with Transport Scotland”.
Mott MacDonald is a €1.76 billion global management, engineering and development firm. Sweco, a Sweden-based engineering and architecture consultancy, has sales of €1.7 billion.
The joint venture was established in 2010 bringing together the broad experience of Mott MacDonald and Sweco, formerly Grontmij. The joint venture has been involved in improvement works around junction 10 of the M20 motorway in county Kent in England. It also worked on the introduction of the smart motorway on the M5 in the English Midlands.
The nearly 47km stretch of the road will provide users with improved journey times between two of Scotland’s economic hubs, the cities of Inverness and Aberdeen.
In 2011, the Scottish Government published its Infrastructure Investment Plan which set out the Government’s plans for infrastructure investment over the coming decades.
The plan noted that dualling 86 miles of the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen, by 2030, was a key investment. The Hardmuir to Fochabers section of the road consists mainly of single-lane carriageway through or close to various towns and villages that suffered regular traffic bottlenecks.
The joint venture will begin design and assessment work that could take up to two years to complete. There will be a number of grade separated junctions where bypasses are created for a number of communities, such as Forres and Elgin. There will also be crossings of the River Findhorn, the River Lossie and the River Spey, as well as the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line.
Iain Scott, contract director for the Mott MacDonald and Sweco joint venture, said that the contract “builds on our long established collaborative relationship with Transport Scotland”.
Mott MacDonald is a €1.76 billion global management, engineering and development firm. Sweco, a Sweden-based engineering and architecture consultancy, has sales of €1.7 billion.
The joint venture was established in 2010 bringing together the broad experience of Mott MacDonald and Sweco, formerly Grontmij. The joint venture has been involved in improvement works around junction 10 of the M20 motorway in county Kent in England. It also worked on the introduction of the smart motorway on the M5 in the English Midlands.
