A96 Corridor Review Summary

Purpose of A96 Corridor Review

As the Scottish Government’s current plan is to fully dual the A96 route between Inverness and Aberdeen, it was considered appropriate that it progressed to the Detailed Appraisal stage, as it has already been the subject of the appraisal undertaken in 2014 that established the Inverness to Aberdeen Corridor Study A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Strategic Business Case. The Preliminary and Detailed Appraisal stages are discussed in Section 2.4.

A96 Corridor Review Objectives

Transport Planning Objectives (TPOs) are of central importance to the STAG process. In line with STAG, TPOs should align with the outcomes sought by the study, be based on a comprehensive and evidenced understanding of problems and opportunities and lend themselves to inform a clear and transparent appraisal of transport options. The TPOs are a key element of the appraisal process from initial option identification and sifting, through to preliminary and detailed appraisal and subsequent monitoring/ evaluation.

For the A96 Corridor Review, TPOs have been aligned to those set at the national level in STPR2, supported by corridor specific sub-objectives. An overarching set of TPOs have been established as part of STPR2, which are closely aligned with the four priorities, 12 outcomes and 24 policies contained within NTS2. To reflect the nature of the corridor, the overarching TPOs have been amended slightly from the national-level STPR2 objectives.

A series of sub-objectives have been developed to align with the overall direction of the TPOs (and hence the STPR2 national objectives), but with a particular focus on the specific evidence-based problems and opportunities for the corridor. The A96 Corridor Review TPOs and sub-objectives are as follows:

• TPO 1 – A sustainable strategic transport corridor that contributes to the Scottish Government’s net zero emissions target.
• Reduce transport related emissions through a shift to more sustainable modes of transport.
• Increase the active travel mode share for shorter everyday journeys.
• TPO 2 – An inclusive strategic transport corridor that improves the accessibility of public transport in rural areas for access to healthcare, employment and education.
• Increase public transport mode share by improving connections between sustainable modes of transport.
• Reduce the reliance on private car for access to healthcare, employment and education.
• Improve mobility and inclusion, recognising the specific needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable users.
• TPO 3 – A coherent strategic transport corridor that enhances communities as places, supporting health, wellbeing and the environment.
• Reduce demand for unsustainable travel by enhancing place making within settlements along the A96.
• Increase active travel mode share for both shorter and longer distance journeys.
• Reduce real and perceived severance caused by the strategic transport network both between and within communities.
• Protect or enhance the natural environment and heritage.
• TPO 4 – An integrated strategic transport system that contributes towards sustainable inclusive growth throughout the corridor and beyond.
• Increase sustainable access to labour markets and key centres for employment, education and training.
• Increase the mode share of freight by sustainable modes.
• Increase competitiveness of key sectors by improving journey time reliability for commercial transport.
• TPO 5 – A reliable and resilient strategic transport system that is safe for users.
• Reduce the accident rates and severity of transport related casualties in line with reduction targets.
• Improve resilience to disruption (from climate change events and maintenance activities) through adaptation of the corridor's trunk road and rail infrastructure.

A96 Corridor Overview

The Inverness to Aberdeen transport corridor passes through the council areas of Highland, Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City. The corridor includes a number of settlements, including Inverness, Nairn, Forres, Elgin, Fochabers, Keith, Huntly, Inverurie, Kintore, and Aberdeen. These settlements are linked by the A96 Trunk Road, which provides strategic road connectivity between urban and rural areas. The surrounding environment is predominantly rural, with extensive areas of agricultural land, a number of sensitive designated natural heritage areas and a significant number of cultural heritage features, including battlefields, scheduled monuments and listed buildings. The corridor is subject to flood risk from surface water and coastal flooding.

STAG Appraisal

The appraisal process for the A96 Corridor Review is being carried out in four key stages undertaken in accordance with STAG. This comprises both the approach and outcomes of the appraisal process at each of these stages.

STAG defines a multi-criteria framework that appraises options’ ability to meet the TPOs and appraises their performance against the five STAG criteria and established policy objectives. The appraisal also covers the ‘deliverability’ of options through identifying their feasibility, affordability and public acceptability. The A96 Corridor Review Case for Change ( Initial Appraisal: Case for Change - December 2022 - A96 Corridor Review. ) has already been completed and published on the Transport Scotland website.

The STAG stages to be completed for the review are:

• Preliminary Options Appraisal – this comprised a qualitative appraisal of the options retained from the Option Sifting stage (presented in the Case for Change) against the project specific TPOs, STAG criteria, established policy objectives and deliverability. As part of the A96 Corridor Review, the SIAs undertaken in parallel to the transport appraisal have also informed the options appraisal. Further details on the Preliminary Appraisal are presented in Chapter 3 of the Strategic Business Case Transport Appraisal Report (Draft)
• Detailed Appraisal – the options remaining from the Preliminary Appraisal were progressed to the Detailed Appraisal stage. The appraisal at this stage transitioned from the qualitative approach adopted at the Preliminary Appraisal stage, to more quantitative appraisal elements where possible. Further details on the Detailed Appraisal are presented in Chapter 5 of the Strategic Business Case Transport Appraisal Report (Draft).
• Monitoring and Evaluation Plan – to determine the success of the implemented option in achieving the TPOs, performance against STAG criteria and any impacts on established policy objectives. A plan for monitoring (gathering and interpreting information on the performance of any implemented intervention) and evaluation (identification of whether the implemented intervention is performing as intended) should be set out prior to implementation of any deliverable. Although the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation plan forms part of STAG, for consistency with the STPR2 it was agreed that this would not be undertaken at this stage as part of the transport appraisal for the A96 Corridor Review.

The SEA has informed and been informed by the environmental assessment in the environmental and climatic factors sections of both the Preliminary and Detailed Appraisal Summary Tables (ASTs), which summarise the potential environmental impacts of each sifted STAG option at the Preliminary Appraisal stage and each package of interventions and Full Dualling at the Detailed Appraisal stage. The rating and narrative of this STAG environmental assessment is presented in Appendix E of this Environmental Report. The assessment of the packages and Full Dualling in the SEA may differ slightly from the STAG environment criterion rating, as the assessment for the SEA includes additional objectives that fall under the Population and Human Health topic that are not considered in the STAG assessment.

Overview of STAG Options

Option Development Process

In keeping with the principles of STAG, the Initial Appraisal: Case for Change provided a robust method to generate, ‘clean’ and sift options; ensuring a broad range of options across all modes was initially considered. The approach to the generation of transport interventions for the A96 Corridor Review is summarised below.

Long List Generation

• Input : Project team workshop, stakeholder workshops, review of previous studies and online survey feedback
• Who : Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Purpose : Collect all submissions in one list for cleaning and processing
• Review : Self check by Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Output : Long List of Options

Cleaned Long List

• Input : Long List of Options
• Who : Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Purpose : Cleaning, removing duplicates, consolidating/ defining descriptions and high sense check
• Review : Self check by Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Output : Cleaned Long List

Shifted Short List

• Input : Cleaned Long List
• Who : Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Purpose : Access cleaned long list of options against agreed sifting criteria
• Review : Self check by Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Output : Shifted List (with rationale for sifted out options. Flag options for further consideration. Recommend single mode packages)

Mode Specialist Review

• Input : Shifted List
• Who : Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team
• Purpose : To apply specialist knowledge to each option and further refine the sifting process
• Review : Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review Transport Team and modal specialists
• Output : Refined Sifted List

Generation of Long List of ‘Options’

The long list of initial transport option suggestions was generated based on submissions received from a range of sources, including a review of options identified from previous studies, as well as stakeholder workshops and the public consultation survey. The public consultation survey, where respondents could put forward up to five suggestions, resulted in approximately 10,700 suggestions to be considered. Options were also generated by the Jacobs AECOM A96 Corridor Review project team as part of the process.

Overall, the total number of submissions to be considered was approximately 11,091.

Option Cleaning

Within the 11,091 individual suggestions, there was a significant number that were either duplicate entries, or were too vague or ambiguous without further definition, or were submissions that could not be considered an ‘option’ (for example, those submissions that referenced non-transport related items). As such, an exercise was undertaken to ‘clean’ the long list.

Duplicate entries were identified, with a single ‘master option’ identified to represent all duplicated options. For example, there was a very high proportion of duplicate options for full or partial dualling of the A96 and bypasses. Removing these duplicates significantly lowered the total number of options retained for consideration as part of the subsequent sifting process.

Those submissions that could not be considered as options, either as a result of not being sufficiently well defined or being non-transport related items, were removed from the subsequent sifting process.

Following on from this cleaning process, a total of 227 options were retained as part of the ‘cleaned’ long list of options that formed the input to the Option Sifting process.

Option Sifting

Options were sifted out at this stage for one or more of the following reasons:

• The option was out of scope based on the agreed set of definitions for the A96 Corridor Review
• The option would not address the problems/opportunities in the region.
• The option would incur significant deliverability risks.
• The option is being progressed elsewhere, including through STPR2 at a national level, and this would be the most appropriate mechanism by which to progress this option.
• The problems/opportunities would be better addressed through another option.
• The option was rationalised with another, similar option.

Of the options retained, those that were similar or shared common elements were rationalised with each other to form the final list of retained options. A total of 227 options were considered, of which 177 were sifted out, leaving 50 options. Of these 50 options, 34 options were rationalised, leaving a final ‘short list’ of 16 options.

Appraisal Process

Following the sifting exercise, 16 options specific to the A96 Corridor Review remained in the process and were recommended to be progressed to Preliminary Appraisal.

Early in the Preliminary Appraisal process it was identified that the Active Hubs option would clearly align with and sit within STPR2 recommendation 22 (Framework for Delivery of Mobility Hubs). It was determined that STPR2 would be the most appropriate mechanism by which to progress this option at a national level. As such, the appraisal of Active Hubs was not completed within the A96 Corridor Review, and outcomes are therefore not presented in this chapter.

A96 Full Dualling

As the A96 Full Dualling is the current plan it is considered appropriate that it progresses to the Detailed Appraisal stage, as it has already been the subject of the appraisal undertaken in 2014 that established the Inverness to Aberdeen Corridor Study A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Strategic Business Case ( Transport Scotland (2014), Inverness to Aberdeen Corridor Study A96 Dualling Inverness to Aberdeen Strategic Business Case, 2014. ) .

The A96 Full Dualling has been appraised as part of the Detailed Appraisal in order to assess its performance against current appraisal criteria including the Transport Planning Objectives developed for the A96 Corridor Review, the current STAG criteria and the relevant Statutory Impact Assessments. The complete environmental assessment of Full Dualling at the Detailed Appraisal stage is provided in Appendix E (Assessment Matrices) and the outcomes of this assessment are presented in Chapter 7.

It should be noted that the A96 Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme has been excluded from the scope of the A96 Corridor Review as it already has ministerial consent. In the context of the A96 Corridor Review, the A96 Full Dualling therefore comprises the section of the route from Hardmuir (to the East of Nairn) through to the junction with the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) at Craibstone.

Retained Options

Table 2.1 lists and describes the 16 retained options.

Table 2.1: List of Retained Options

Option	Mode of Transport	Description
Active Communities	Active Travel	Deliver networks of high-quality active travel routes and placemaking improvements within key communities along the A96 corridor such as Nairn, Forres, Elgin, Fochabers, Keith, Huntly and Inverurie.
Active Connections	Active Travel	Deliver high quality active travel linkages for people walking, wheeling and cycling between settlements along the A96 corridor, which would combine to form a continuous traffic-free path all the way from Inverness to Aberdeen, either directly adjacent to, or close to, the A96.
Active Hubs	Multimodal	The creation of a strategy for the delivery of active hubs within communities across the length of the A96 corridor.
Improved Public Transport Passenger Interchange Facilities	Multimodal	Improve public transport passenger facilities, including accessibility and quality enhancements at bus stations and railway stations.
Bus Priority Measures and Park and Ride	Bus	Implement schemes targeted at delivering faster and more reliable journey times for bus passengers, coupled with the provision of new bus Park and Ride sites where appropriate.
Investment in Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS)	Public Transport	Improve access to travel opportunities in locations with low bus network connectivity or where conventional fixed route services may not be suitable or viable. In these areas, flexible services, such as Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) or Community Transport (CT), may be able to provide improved public transport links.
Introduce Rail Freight Terminals	Freight	Facilitate the introduction, development and operation of rail freight terminals by the private sector at Inverness, Elgin and Keith, to facilitate freight movements to/from these locations by rail.
Linespeed, Passenger and Freight Capacity Improvements on Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Line	Rail	Three distinct improvements to the railway between Aberdeen and Inverness; linespeed improvements to cut journey times, the provision of passing loops to enable a more frequent passenger service and the provision of freight facilities to enable intermodal freight to operate.
Improved Parking Provision at Railway Stations	Rail	Enhance parking facilities at railway stations between Aberdeen and Inverness with the aim of encouraging the use of existing low carbon infrastructure for medium and long distance travel along the corridor.
A96 Full Dualling (plus Targeted Trunk Road Improvements)	Road	Full Dualling of the A96 between Hardmuir to Craibstone to address road safety concerns and provide resilience and reliability improvements for a key connection between Inverness and Aberdeen.
Targeted Road Safety Improvements	Road	Improving the safety performance of the A96 Trunk Road to address both real and perceived road safety concerns (with potential measures ranging from minor improvements through to partial dualling).
Elgin Bypass	Road	Improve the safety, resilience, and reliability of the A96 within the vicinity of Elgin through the provision of a bypass of the town.
Keith Bypass	Road	Improve the safety, resilience, and reliability of the A96 within the vicinity of Keith through the provision of a bypass of the town.
Inverurie Bypass	Road	Improve the safety, resilience, and reliability of the A96 within the vicinity of Inverurie through the provision of a bypass of the town.
Forres Bypass	Road	Improve the safety, resilience, and reliability of the A96 in Forres through the provision of a bypass within the vicinity of the town.
A96 Electric Corridor	Technology	Provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities along the A96 corridor, its interfacing local roads as well as, where appropriate, strategic economic and transport hubs. This option will directly facilitate the dispensation of alternative sources of fuel for various modes of sustainable transport although it is recognised that the option is likely to focus on road vehicles.

From the Preliminary Appraisal, 13 options were progressed to the Detailed Appraisal stage. In recognition that the retained options covered a range of transport modes and therefore would provide a greater net benefit if combined as a package rather than as standalone options, four multimodal packages were originally developed using an ‘area-based’ approach. These packages were developed to group options that would work in combination to meet the TPOs and thus address the identified problems and opportunities for the corridor. The area-based approach was adopted to develop multimodal packages to suit the varying needs of local communities and businesses along the transport corridor, and ensured no areas were unduly prioritised over others.

As the appraisal progressed, a fifth package was developed and added to the appraisal process. This package comprises all of the options that progressed from the Preliminary Appraisal to create an ‘all in’ package across the corridor.

The Detailed Appraisal at this stage appraised these five packages rather than individual options. The five packages that were appraised at this stage are:

• Package 1 – relating to those towns along the A96 that contain an option to bypass as brought forward from the Preliminary Appraisal, specifically Forres, Elgin, Keith and Inverurie. This also includes Nairn as it is to be bypassed as part of the separate A96 Dualling Inverness to Nairn (including Nairn Bypass) scheme that has ministerial consent. In addition, this package focuses on delivering networks of high-quality active travel routes and placemaking improvements within the bypassed settlements. Public transport interventions are also included, targeted at delivering faster and more reliable journey times as well as improving the overall passenger experience. As part of the public transport interventions, the rail network would see linespeed, passenger and freight capacity improvements delivered for the Aberdeen and Inverness rail line. This package also includes the provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities throughout the A96 corridor, seeking to encourage a shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
• Package 2 – relating to other settlements along the A96 where a bypass is not considered, namely Lhanbryde, Mosstodloch, Fochabers, Huntly, Kintore and Blackburn. This package focuses on delivering networks of high-quality active travel routes and placemaking improvements and public transport interventions, targeted at delivering faster and more reliable journey times. As part of the public transport interventions, the rail network would see linespeed, passenger and freight capacity improvements delivered for the Aberdeen and Inverness rail line. This package also includes the provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities throughout the A96 corridor, seeking to encourage a shift from ICE vehicles. Targeted road safety improvements, to address both real and perceived safety concerns on the A96 Trunk Road are also included.
• Package 3 – relating to more rural sections between settlements. This package seeks to address both real and perceived safety concerns on the A96 Trunk Road through targeted road safety improvements, while delivering public transport interventions, targeted at faster and more reliable journey times. As part of the public transport interventions, the rail network would see linespeed, passenger and freight capacity improvements delivered for the Aberdeen and Inverness rail line. This package also aims to deliver networks of high-quality active travel routes between settlements along the A96 corridor. This package also includes the provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities throughout the A96 corridor, seeking to encourage a shift from ICE vehicles.
• Package 4 – relating to longer distance components that may not be fully captured in the above three packages, including end-to-end movements. This package would provide high-quality active travel routes linking settlements along the A96 corridor while delivering public transport interventions targeted at delivering faster and more reliable journey times. As part of the public transport interventions, the rail network would see linespeed, passenger and freight capacity improvements delivered for the Aberdeen and Inverness rail line. This package also includes the provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities throughout the A96 corridor, seeking to encourage a shift from ICE vehicles. The package would also deliver targeted safety improvements aiming to address both real and perceived safety concerns on the A96 Trunk Road.
• Package 5 – comprising all options brought forward from the Preliminary Appraisal. The multimodal package would provide bypasses of Forres, Elgin, Keith and Inverurie, with targeted road safety improvements delivered elsewhere along the A96 Trunk Road. The package would deliver networks of high-quality active travel routes within and between settlements along the A96 corridor. Public transport proposals would be included to enhance the accessibility and quality of interchange facilities and bus priority measures to provide quicker and more reliable journeys, along with linespeed, passenger and freight capacity improvements for the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line. This package also includes the provision of alternative refuelling infrastructure and facilities throughout the A96 corridor and investment in a Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) and MaaS pilot study.

Although each package was appraised individually, where appropriate and relevant, a number of individual options are included in more than one package.

An assessment of the benefits and contribution of the individual options to the performance of the overall packages was undertaken as part of the STAG appraisal. This has included additional detailed assessment using the available transport models to examine the impact of those options that could be represented in the models on an individual basis and determine what proportion of the total benefits they would provide.

The additional assessments allowed the better performing options to be identified and these were combined to form an additional package, referred to as the Refined Package. This package was developed to maximise the level of potential benefits provided by combining the best performing options, whilst optimising investment within the corridor and delivering value for money.

The transport interventions included in each package are outlined in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 A96 Corridor Review Transport Packages and Interventions

Future Appraisal Scenarios

It is recognised that external factors that are out of the direct control or influence of Transport Scotland can have a large influence on future demand for travel. Transport Scotland took the decision to adopt a scenarios approach in STPR2, which looks at a range of possible futures, and how the possible options behave in them.

The scenarios that were developed for STPR2 have also been applied to the options appraisal for the A96 Corridor Review. For the Preliminary Appraisal, and subsequent Detailed Appraisal, the following two scenarios with their inherent variants of transport behaviour were considered:

• 'With Policy Scenario' - captures policy ambitions including 20% reduction (from 2019 levels) in car kilometres travelled by 2030, and assumptions to significantly reduce levels of commuting/business journeys to reflect post COVID-19 working behaviours, leading to low levels of motorised traffic demand and emissions.
• 'Without Policy Scenario' - no policy ambitions are captured, and less significant reductions to levels of commuting/business journeys, leading to higher levels of motorised traffic demand and emissions.

These scenarios were developed using the Transport Model for Scotland (TMfS18) and the Transport and Economic/Land Use Model of Scotland (TELMoS18) for use in the appraisal stages of STPR2, and subsequently the A96 Corridor Review.

Further detail on the development of the future appraisal scenarios can be found in Appendix A of the Strategic Business Case Transport Appraisal Report (Draft) ( Jacobs AECOM (2024) A96 Corridor Review Strategic Business Case Transport Appraisal Report (Draft) ) .

At the Preliminary Appraisal stage, each option has been appraised against a qualitative assessment of how the option could be expected to perform under a low and higher motorised travel demand.