The Glen Garry to Crubenmore section stretches for over 12 miles.

Raeburn Drilling and Geotechnical Ltd secured a £2.7m contract for the challenging 15 mile Dalraddy to Slochd stretch last week.

Keith Brown, cabinet secretary for economy, jobs and fair work, said: “The work to dual the A9 between Perth and Inverness is moving on apace.

“Hot on the heels of awarding a ground investigation contract for the Dalraddy to Slochd dualling project last week, we are now able to award a further contract which will help inform the design work covering two more dualling projects - Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie and Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore.

“These investigations will start next month, take a break over the holiday period and then re-commence in January with the work expected to last until March 2018.

“As with the Dalraddy to Slochd contract, some of this work will take place on or near the live carriageway and in order to ensure the safety of both road workers and road users we will need to introduce traffic management arrangements.

“Road users and local communities will be kept informed of our plans and we will endeavour to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.”