Fiona Hyslop has spent days in the North of Scotland seeing for herself the way transport shapes daily life and drives opportunity.
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport travelled from coast to coast, meeting the people who keep the wheels turning and seeing how investment is transforming connections and communities.
She began in Fort William at the Nevis Roundabout, hearing directly about the challenges it poses and how local and national partners are working together on solutions.
From there she journeyed to Kishorn Port and Dry Dock, one of the largest in Europe, where expansion work worth £42 million, including £24 million from the Scottish Government will create up to 1,500 jobs in the renewable energy sector.
“I saw first hand how the port contributes significantly to our economy and to local lives,” she said.
“It shows the value of transport not just to our wider economy, but to communities too.”
On the Far North Rail Line she met young Network Rail apprentices, part of an £11.5 million upgrade programme to make journeys smoother and more reliable.
“I’m sure they will go on to have fulfilling careers,” she said, praising the mix of skills, ambition and opportunity that investment brings.
She stopped at the A9 to check on dualling works, which she says are meeting the targets set last year.
“Improving safety and supporting the economy with a more reliable route is at the core of this project,” she said.
In Halkirk she visited the most northerly public electric vehicle charging point on the mainland, part of a joint public and private investment that is making it easier than ever to make the switch to EVs.
In Inverness she joined Scottish Forestry to see their new electric timber truck, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK and hailed it as a sign of the progress being made to decarbonise the HGV sector.
“All parts of the country are benefiting from Scottish Government funding,” she said.
“We are working towards a greener, fairer, more resilient and wealthier Scotland, and transport plays a fundamental role in achieving those goals.”
