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Title: A9 HIGHLAND HIGHWAY

Reference number: 1962

Date: 1982

Director: p. Paddy Higson

Sponsor: Films of Scotland

Production company: QMR Productions [Ogam Films]

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 30 mins

Description: A documentary on the remaking, over ten years, of the A9 between Perth and Inverness - the highest trunk road in Britain. Work involved the diversion of a river and the building of many bridges.

Credits: Special thanks to Scottish Development Department

Consulting engineers: Babtie, Shaw & Morton; Crouch & Hogg; W. A. Fairhurst & Partners; Freeman Fox & Partners; Jamieson Mackay & Partners

Contractors: Balfour Beattie & Co. Ltd.; R. J. McLeod (Contractors) Ltd.; Miller Construction Northern Ltd.; Tarmac Construction Ltd.; William Tawse Ltd.; Tractor Shovels (Contracts) Ltd.; Whatlings Ltd.

Sub-contractors: Amey Roadstone Construction Ltd.; Armco Ltd.; Wm Briggs Construction; I. & H. Brown (Plant) Ltd.; Charcon Scotland Ltd.; Concrete Products (Kirkcaldy) Ltd.; Engineering Laboratory Equipment; Allen Gordon & Co.; The Hepworth Iron Co. Ltd.; G.K.N. Keller Foundations; John Mackay (Plant) Ltd.; Messrs. Sandberg; Soil Mechanics Ltd.; R.H. Harry Stanger Ltd.; George Wimpey & Co. Ltd.

and to Highland Regional Council

[nar. Alec Heggies
special thanks to Scottish Development Department]

Shotlist: various shots of vehicles travelling on the A9 (2.10) shot of the superintending engineer - talking head and v/o with view of the A9 construction site (2.52) l/s of highland hills (3.17) shot of Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie and the road running along beside it (3.51) shots of vintage car [c1920s] travelling along the "country road" from Perth to Inverness (5.00) various shots of traffic jams / congestion on the old A9 [including some town street scenes] (6.34) aerial view of A9 and its bypass junctions (6.59) gvs of landscape around the Tay at Dunkeld where A9 construction is taking place, followed by c/u machinery working at this site, diverting the Tay back to a flow path it took some 100 years before (8.53) more gvs of this stretch of the Tay followed by a shot just downstream, where a bridge is being built [as part of the Dunkeld bypass] featuring c/us of the machinery and men working on this (11.37) brief aerial view of the finished article (11.47) talking head of superintending engineer, Mr. Miller (12.21) int. and ext. of Police Range Rover travelling along the old A9 (13.23) various grim shots of crashes / wrecked cars on the old A9 (14.38) shot of postman in his old mail bus [which carries both mail deliveries and public passengers!] (15.36) int. and ext. of coach travelling along new A9 to a motel at Newtonmore, Spey Valley followed by talking head of the barman at said motel (16.35) tracking shot showing village street which was used by old A9 (17.17) shots of construction site followed by tracking shots then aerial shots along the new A9 (18.56) aerial shots tracing along the miles of construction site [through cleared forests etc] (19.23) shots of A9 Slochd bridge construction [a bridge over a road over a railway] (20.49) int. of police control room at Inverness, cutting back and forth with snowy scenes along the road [featuring snow ploughs / other machinery and the snowy Cairngorms] (23.46) further shots of road / bridge construction at Beauly and then Cromarty - for the Kessock and Cromarty Bridges (25.59) shots of road / bridge architect with architectural drawings, followed by further shots of construction/machinery/workmen (28.03) various shots of traffic passing along the finished article (29.08) credits (30.04)