Why the outside lane of the dual carriageway between Tomatin and Inverness remained covered with snow and ice for the whole day on Saturday…

Due to heavy snowfalls during the weekend of 29-30 December 2001, BEAR deployed gritters and snow ploughs on the A9.The first priority on dual carriageway roads is to keep one lane open in each direction and once this has been achieved the gritters treat the outside lanes. However, due to the heavy prolonged snowfall on 29 December 2001 the gritters were fully deployed keeping one lane open. Consequently, it was not possible to keep the outside lane between Tomatin and Inverness free from ice and snow.With regard to the problems experienced by lorries on the hill at Daviot, I understand that a lorry overtook a gritter and became stuck in the outside lane. However, it did not block the road and other vehicles were able to pass safely using the inside lane. The lorry was removed soon after the incident.