§ Dr. A. Thompsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will consider giving priority to the construction of a major road linking the proposed Forth and Tay road bridges in order to open up trade in this area.
§ Mr. MaclayNo. I consider that priority must be given to the reconstruction of the Perth-Inverkeithing trunk road (A.90) because it already carries heavy traffic which will increase when the Forth Bridge is open and because it serves a number of traffic movements, e.g., traffic from Edinburgh and the south-east to102W Perth, to Inverness and the north and to Aberdeen by the favoured route via Forfar.
Traffic to the Tay Bridge would then proceed by the improved A.90 to Milna-thort and thence by A.91 and A.914 to Newport; traffic from Kirkcaldy and the surrounding area would proceed to Newport by A.92 and A.914. Both these routes to Newport would be little longer than a new route across Fife between the two bridges; they already serve existing centres of population; and could be improved at considerably less cost than the construction of a new route. Such a route could not be built, having regard to other needs elsewhere in the country, without prejudicing the reconstruction of A.90, which in my opinion should come first.