One of the most dangerous roads in the UK will receive £6m of improvement works according to the Scottish Transport Secretary.

The A9, which runs between Perth and Inverness, will have an overtaking lane added for £2.6m at Moy and resurfacing work will be carried out at Ralia.

Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said these large parts of the road may be converted to duel carriageway with £600,000 of this investment going towards dualling design works between Birnam and the Jubilee Bridge, north of Dunkeld.

A 2008 survey discovered there were more fatalities on the A9 than on any other Scottish road with 69 deaths between 2002 and 2006.

Construction of the overtaking lane at Moy will start in March and is likely to last for 12 weeks while the resurfacing, also expected to start in the spring, will last for ten weeks.

Stevenson said he believes the road work will improve the safety of the road and reduce congestion for motorists.

Design work on the road, Scotland’s longest trunk road, will start soon.

The projects will use the more sustainable ‘crack and seat’ method, which reduces carbon emissions by cutting down on the number of deliveries and increasing the recycling of existing materials.