ACCORDING to that well-known sage Forrest Gump, life is like a box of chocolates, as you never know what you’re going to get.

For many businesses and residents across the Highlands the quote could easily be used to describe driving up and down the A9.

It is always very busy with cars, lorries and, increasingly, campervans all duelling for space on the notorious road.

Occasionally, your trip north coincides – as mine once did – with a line of horse boxes heading to an equestrian event and there was no way of overtaking even just one, let alone a whole row of them.

The main road from Perth to Inverness is often referred to as the spine of Scotland and it is used by hundreds of thousands of vehicles every week.

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Not only is it beautiful, it is also extremely dangerous and this has become a major political topic in the past decade on account of the fact that it has yet to be fully dualled, despite repeated promises.

When I say it is not yet fully dualled, what I meant to say was that just 11 miles of the 83-mile single carriageway parts of the road have been upgraded since 20011.

Even that famed simpleton Forrest Gump could can work out........

© Herald Scotland