Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering, John Graham Construction and Wills Bros Civil Engineering project will now fight it out to upgrade the 9.6 km stretch of the A9 between Tomatin and Moy.

Transport Scotland anticipates that the construction contract will be awarded in the second half of 2022.

The shortlist was announced as critical enabling works were completed involving the demolition of a 1884 masonry arch rail bridge at Lynebeg, near Inverness, followed by the successful installation of the new structure during a 78 hour possession of the Highland Mainline.

The completion of the bridge replacement at Lynebeg rail bridge marks a significant milestone in the progress of the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project and has been the culmination of years of meticulous planning and preparation with Network Rail, its contractor BAM Nuttall, Atkins Mouchel Joint Venture and Transport Scotland.

In addition to the new rail bridge, further advance works for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project are expected to commence in early 2022 and will see the creation of a new non-motorised user route (NMU) which will initially facilitate local access to a new bus layby and shelter on the B1954.

Billy McKay, Network Rail’s Programme Manager for the Lynebeg bridge replacement works, said: “The installation was complex due to requirement to remove the existing railway infrastructure including cabling, track and the embankment, before the concrete bridge could be pushed into its final position.  And all against the clock due to the need to reinstate and re-open the line to traffic at the end of the possession.”