John Graham Construction Ltd, Sacyr UK Ltd and Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd will compete to be awarded the upgrade of six miles (9.6 km) of the A9 to dual carriageway between Tomatin and Moy.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government began a new procurement competition to complete the section after the single tender submission received was deemed not to be of good value.

Ms Hyslop said the shortlist announcement follows a significant change to the overall contract strategy for this project which uses a different contract form with a balanced share of risk between the contractor and Scottish Ministers.

She added: “The dualling of the section between Tomatin to Moy will not only improve connectivity and safety for those using the route through the upgrading of the single carriageway, but will also include over 10km of improvements to active travel routes including new footpaths and greater connections to public transport.”

In addition to the dualling of the A9, the works will also include:

• Four new junctions and upgrading of an existing junction
• Construction of three new bridges, and replacement of the Moy Rail Bridge
• New active travel routes and enhanced lay-bys with connections to active travel facilities and public transport including new footpaths and new bus turning facilities at Tomatin

Several preparatory works packages were completed in 2022 and 2023, to de-risk the main construction programme. These works included a contract for enabling works at Tomatin Distillery, a Network Rail contract to replace Lynebeg rail bridge, a Network Rail contract to divert undertrack culverts and an archaeological investigation. These preparatory works have already provided upgraded active travel and pedestrian routes around Tomatin Distillery, provided a series of educational engagement sessions with schools on archaeology and have created an ecological pond to benefit a rare sub-species of Caddisfly in the area.

The current timetable anticipates an award of the construction contract for the third section of the A9 Dualling in early Summer 2024.