I think my wacky idea would be to extend the Kyle Line across to Skye all the way to Uig.
I’d also cut the motorway out and rebuild it underground from just before J 15 at the GRI rebuild the Kingston Bridge as a tunnel and then put it back just after J 22 on the other side
High speed rail everywhere , Edinburgh London in 2 hrs is a game changer
Knowing this lot though it will cost about 1.5k one way
Unlimited budget you say? Well then my high speed trains are maglev and go between all the major population centres in Scotland, but also to Northern Ireland and to Denmark. A high speed rail network connecting us to Europe. Edinburgh Esbjerg in less than 2 hours, less than 3 hours to Copenhagen and Berlin in 4 hours. Hawd me back.
Why stop there? High speed tunnel to North America.
Linking Nova Scotia to Scotland. Neato. :)
I like the cut of your jib.
We'll take the sproose moose!
Just reverse the Beeching axe
Like the Shanghai electromagnetic train - would be awesome.
High speed, electric rail across the whole country, including rural areas.
With much cheaper tickets!!
Shinkansen Japanese bullet trains lightning all across the country from the north to the south
That and a tokyo level subway in every city (trams in Edinburgh since they can’t dig)
I'd fix those bloody lights at the Dekebone roundabout.
You should run for First Minister.
I'm sorry Mr President, just choked on my roll and tattie scone.
Ah cannae even fuckin drive
Could have a lot of fun with a couple of Death Stars.
We have a death star, it's the Queen Elisabeth Hospital in Glasgow.
Conflicted as to either upvote or downvote that comment.
Unfuck the busses. Massively extend the routes, more and better maintained vehicles, 24/7 service, decent bus stops, good wages, trained conductors on board, and have it cheap/free. Make it so you don't have to travel into town just to transfer and travel back out if you're trying to go from one place to the other in the outskirts. Rural areas shouldn't be held hostage by minimal '2 busses a day, 6 days a week, last bus at 6pm' type services. Improve access to the countryside/remote areas so you don't require a car to enjoy nature that isn't a city park.
Also, seconding the tunnel to North America. High speed rail, preferably.
Remove all shitty building built in EDI and Glasgow and replace with proper good quality housing for everyone, students and families. And make the new building to merge nicely with old existing ones (without being a modern caricature of a tenement!)
Agreed. None of this toxic Abestos shite from the 19th century. Affordable green houses would be ideal as well
Not just in the cities. So many towns have lovely historic centres surrounded by awful, ugly housing. Dalkeith, Haddington, Musselburgh, Dunbar just off the top of my head have some beautiful architecture but look shit because of everything around them and feel so lacking in investment.
Edinburgh is maddening. If you don't want a Victorian or Georgian flat there are so few decent options for anything built in the last 120 years. I'd love to rebuild all of Pilton, make it a great place for younger folk, eco friendly homes with good architecture, mixture of flats, small houses, cottage flats, colony style flats. A few parks, cycle and foot paths, a few commercial centres for cafes, restaurants, pubs and community centres and the like. Close to the sea, out of the way of tourists, not too far to the centre.
This...I hope you include the many council houses 2 up 2 down/cottage flats that are all over the country. They all need to be replaced and rebuilt. Put in massive new heating systems and make Scotland truly carbon neutral
4th stand at the Falkirk Stadium.
On that note. Kingsley in every home. You'll see the sun rise whether you like it or not.
I’d re-surface the roads in my county. I can not imagine how it’s more cost effective for the council to pay everyone’s garage bills when we get flats
Check out this ONE simple trick council taxpayers HATE everywhere.
A tunnel to canada, road, rail & a bike path/pedestrian walkway: rest stops along the way.
This is the blue sea thinking I come here for
Atlantic T-Bay too (please just one person get this)
As long as they have those amazing sausage rolls.
Subsidise them anaw lol
Council houses. Plenty of em.
And replace the old ones with newer, eco friendly ones
ALL pavements made even and wide to ensure pedestrians and wheelers have proper access!!
Are you sure an unlimited budget is enough for that? :)
Bridges/tunnels to all our inhabited islands.
There's downsides that come with being attached to the mainland, it does sound nice but inevitably it will cause issues, animals can use those same bridges and tunnels potentially causing long term ecological damage and just look at skye for issues with roads damage littering ect. Keep the isles free, its part of the beauty, a proper housing solution for the Isles would be amazing, a large majority of houses aren't occupied by permanent residents and are instead holiday homes, air b&bs and even left completely unoccupied for 5,10 ,15+ years
Yeah I’ll stick with our ferry thanks 😂
Im surprised there haven't been feasibility studies done for most of the islands. You'd think at least a couple of them would be quite 'easy' relatively.
This is a thing in a lot of places in Norway. They used their oil money wisely it seems
We didn't get any oil money
Yeah pretty much
Shetland and The Faroe Islands (Danish, but they use the same tunnel construction companies as Norway) make a particularly stark contrast. Note that in these cases it's only inter-island transportation, so the issues around increased tourism don't apply.
Just remember that some bridges are very expensive to maintain. Forth road bridge costs around 20million a year, and the Erskine bridge has similar numbers and thats in addition to operating costs. Of course this is small potatoes compared to the Golden Gate bridge that costs $100million a year.
Bear in mind that this was a hypothetical unlimited budget scenario, but yeah those are good points and would need to be considered if this was something that was actually on the cards.
Perhaps, but Norway manages it just fine. I believe they have 33 undersea tunnels and many more bridges connecting their islands to the mainland.
100%, the heavily subsidised ferries cost the taxpayer a fortune. All feasible islands should be linked by bridge. Charge a toll until the construction costs are paid off.
Edinburgh bypass bypass.
Trams. Everywhere will be trams. Glasgow will be full of trams. Edinburgh full of trams. Aberdeen full of Trams. Dundee full of Trams. Trams on gras. Trams on water. Trams on hills. Trams
Tram in Dundee from Ninewells/Invergowrie to Broughty Ferry/Monifieth would be ace.
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
I LIKE TO LOOK AT THEM!
Agreed, for Glasgow. Extending the underground would be amazing
Running a separate line down the Southside under the A77 would be incredible.
Air quality in tunnels is dreadful. We don't have a good solution for that.
Cars will also be banned
Looking forward to trams from Inverness to Edinburgh tbh
I’d vote for you
A Glasgow subway system that rivals that of London or Madrid.
Dundee bypass!
I get on my soap box every now and again and since we're talking unlimited budget here we go! Make Perth Road/Blackness Road one way single lane traffic, let the pubs and cafes cannibalise the extra space, make it a proper place to go to, THE street in Dundee. Nice lights, green spaces where the carparks are, hustling and bustling, European style street where things are happening. Alongside that, new road bridge near the rail bridge and get all that traffic away from the centre of town, it's such a mess and so unpedestrian, is it that a word? Should be.
This!!!!
Getting round, through Dundee is an absolute £ucking nightmare and it's the main route between Dundee and the north east of Scotland. Unfortunately the AWPR took 25 years and was about 25 years too late so I'm not holding my breath.
5 roundabouts and 3 sets of traffic lights. And those lights at the Morrisons junction can just go uck themselves. Not bitter at all.
This should be a thing already. That journey through Dundee is painful at any time of day. The improvements they made to the light system a few years ago were an absolute waste of money. This should be the priority project for Scotland.
YES! Travel from Aberdeen to Glasgow frequently and I still can’t believe we have to drive through Dundee or take a detour of country roads
Now we are talking, how many roundabouts on the Kingsway?
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, bona fide Electrified, six-car monorail What'd I say? Monorail What's it called? Monorail That's right! Monorail Monorail Monorail Monorail I hear those things are awfully loud It glides as softly as a cloud Is there a chance the track could bend? Not on your life, my Hindu friend What about us brain-dead slobs? You'll be given cushy jobs Were you sent here by the Devil? No, good sir, I'm on the level The ring came off my pudding can Take my pen knife, my good man I swear it's Springfield's only choice Throw up your hands and raise your voice Monorail What's it called? Monorail Once again Monorail But Main Street's still all cracked and broken Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken Monorail! Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
Space shuttles for everyone and maglev between launch sites.
Now with a reasonably useful cap on, I would say high speed rail from Inverness to London (if crossing a border counts). Reducing the commute from the central belt to London to around 3 hours would basically eliminate the advantage of short haul flights.
Short haul Edinburgh to London £26, train Edinburgh to London £100. There's your advantage.
You can get train tickets for under £50 pretty easily, you don't have to pay for luggage, and you don't have a £20-30 train trip from Lutton or Stansted on the other end - so that's a pretty lazy argument.
There are definitely problems with train travel between the central belt and London, but I still generally prefer the train.
Yeah my wife and I recently encountered this. We thought the cheap flights down south would be way cheaper, but actually, because we each had a suitcase going into the hold, that adds £50 per person for the flight, which are mostly £50 per person anyway. Suddenly the total cost of getting the LNER from Edinburgh to London was cheaper than flying. And far more scenic.
What's the benefit of getting to London quickly for people who live and work in the country?
Not every piece of infrastructure is going to benefit every person equally, but I suspect you at least occasionally go to London.
I went once on a school trip when I was 12. I've got no business there, no family there, and it's not somewhere I would holiday or go for fun.
I'm not saying everything needs to beenfit me personally, I just wonder why a dispropprtionate amount of these suggestions focus on taking people to London as if it's something everyone does on the regular. Sounds fucking awful.
Just an overhaul of our rail network. Rebuild line to Peterhead, dual the mainline between major cities. Replace the outdated HSTs with the new Hitachi 800s.
Open a station in the North and South of Aberdeen.
Rebuild Deeside railway as a heritage line all the way to Aberdeen.
Extend the Speyside heritage line to Forres.
Affordable housing projects for workers
Finish the dual carriage of A9?
Settle
All the way to Thurso, not just to Inverness.
Oh, sure, stop short of poor Scrabster ;)
For that matter... continue it through a tunnel over to Orkney?
And why not? :D Norway has some cool bridges and tunnels! Nothing we probably can't do here in Scotland. The only thing missing is money and proper allocation of funds.
Yes!! 100%
Nah.
All the way to John o' Groats!
The dream! Or even reintroduce the Edinburgh flight at Wick airport. Or go wild, a flight to Manchester from Wick.
A massive network of large pipes under every road in the country to carry cables, smaller pipes etc.
If all of our electricity, gas, phone, water and waste etc were in these large pipes, we would no longer need to dig up the roads for repairs, upgrades etc to the pipes and cables below.
Most potholes start at the edges of road repairs where pipes, cables have been laid or repaired.
Trams, trams everywhere. All the various loops around Edinburgh need completed. Glasgow could use them as well as the Underground doesn’t cover anywhere near enough of the city. Stirling, Dundee and Aberdeen might find them useful as well. More public transport that can be run using electricity from renewables is the only way forward.
A tunnel system connecting the islands and mainland for road, rail, and cycling. Trams as well.
Solar compacting bins. I’m a simple man and I want there to be much less shite everywhere.
Tbh I’ll take just regular bins everywhere…
Right? So many times I found myself in an areas where there are no bins at all. While it's not a great inconvenience for me as I almost always have a backpack or a shoulder bag to take the rubbish home, there are people for whom it is.
But that's okay. Council is okay with people using patches of lawn and hedges as dumping grounds.
For the love of god dual the fucking A9
A massive fucking trebuchet to lunch rubbish all the way to London.
Demolish fife
Battery system for energy storage.
Why this project failed is insanity.
A rail link from Glasgow Airport to Glasgow city centre
Create a high speed link between Edin and Glasgow, add a longer runway to Edin airport for proper planes, and build two fuck off nuclear plants and give free electricity to all business in scotland.
Once the pole melts, a proper deep water port with great transport links to allow trade with Asia and Russia.
With near free power, amazing comms links, more water than almost any nation on earth, watch the money flood in.
Spend a bit building a proper conurbation between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Hope we can squeeze an all-day/night train service into that new high speed route!
Defo fix the dekebone roundabout
Tunnels to the islands from the mainland, connecting islands via tunnels, putting in place infrastructure to cope with extra traffic and dualing the A9.
A proper metro system linking Glasgow and Edinburgh, from Glasgow airport through the central belt all the way to the east of Edinburgh.
Expanding glasgows subway around the entire city aswell as any other town or city big enough for one
Motorway plus double rail line from north to south The A9 is a disgrace The beaching effect didn't just kill local towns it killed heavy industry all over Scotland
More roundabouts for Livingston
Build a fly over at sherrifhall roundabout for goodness sake, total carry on
I've read all of these, and now I wish we had an unlimited infrastructure budget 🥲
A 60ft tall statue of the Duke of Wellington, complete with a traffic cone and person climbing it.
I’d shift all of the wasted infrastructure by the Clyde and make good actual use out of the river - like every other European city. Riverside cafes, bars, restaurants, parks; anything has to be better than the office buildings we have now
Dual the A9 all the way to the top
Tunnel at rest and be thankful
I'd upgrade all the transport infrastructure, very strongly based on the Japanese model. High quality strategic road infrastructure linking all of the country; as someone has already posted an extensive high speed rail network; integrated public transport in all cities based around extensive underground network; extensive cycling infrastructure; good bus network; tunnels and bridges to all the islands including high speed rail connections; and hot and cold drink vending machines everywhere :)
Massive public transport infrastructure re-haul plus mass installation of ground and air source heat pumps to end over-reliance on toxic and completely unaffordable gas.
Build a 24 hour subway system for Dunfermline, with above ground high speed rail to those stations from all major cities - meaning if you want to go anywhere in Scotland, you must visit Dunfermline.
Why? Just for the fun of it.
Build 200,000 council homes
Probably just give Glasgow city centre a general overhaul to bring it in line with other big UK cities
Space elevator. Would instantly turn Scotland into a world leader. The money generated would probably end up in South East England fixing their sewage pipes though. Just like the oil money went towards the M25 and Thatcher's Reaganomics revolution.
Rip out the Glasgow motorway and build an underground bypass. That way it becomes a unified city without the stupid multilanes cutting up the city.
Bore tunnels connecting the islands to the mainland- ie Mull. No more MV Sannox bollocks ever again. No weather delays or 'low water' cancellations.
Still change left? Separate the sewage and rainwater systems and begin monitoring discharge. We have no data on about 90% of our overflow.
Cable car from Edinburgh Castle to Princes Street. Oh... hang on. Flamethrower all the shitty tax-dodging shops on Princes Street and design some beautiful retail spaces. (Cut all fibre optic cable in Edinburgh so folk have a need for physical shops again...😁)
A trench from the Solway to the Tweed
A massive scale build out of new nuclear, at modular sizes using inherently safe designs like molten salt cooled, atmospheric pressure reactors. Establish the technology, supply chain and safety standards at scale.
Then export to anywhere that wants them, sustaining a globally competitive advanced engineering industry, and with cheap power to supply green equivalents to energy heavy industries, like steel, aluminium and hydrogen production.
Replace the M8
Probably the removal of the unnecessary and unwanted traffic lights at the Dekebone roundabout.
Dig a great fuck off trench at the border and pontoon us out to sea
This made me pure laugh four great big HA's
Fiber to the home everywhere. Improve the 4g reception across Scotland. Free and frequent public transport everywhere in Scotland including buses that actually go take sensible routes to places. Improved cycling infrastructure. All the public housing. Invest in stuff to make Scotland a better place for companies to operate.
A9 dual and mag lev alongside
Expanding the subway in Glasgow and reinstalling the tramlines so the LEZ makes a smidge more sense.
Creating a subway system in Inverness.
High speed railways across the major routes and and expansion of bus and rail travel “north of the wall” (I.e. north of Inverness).
Investing in better services for the ferry links on the west coast. Including new ships, specialists and more efficient routes.
You know…just the shit people want…
Create a brand new city (with full infrastructure), in the north, with proper rail and motorway access to all of Scotland, using high grade housing, totally independent of any local authority (create their own with reasonable taxation to encourage businesses) also with ZERO property ownership, all housing will be owned by the new city and rents capped at a low rate to encourage relocation... use this area to test new types of housing, with very high speed internet and smart homes to maximise environmental benefits, and reduce costs (maybe even have their own nuclear power plant to supply energy at very low prices, added benefit of not requiring access to the national grid)
Congratulations, you’ve invented Cumbernauld!
In all seriousness this would be really nice.
Green energy infrastructure with the aim to provide energy to all the citizens of Scotland at a cheap cost.
Commercial energy will be left to pay as they like for private energy providers but households and people would be able to live without having to stress about massive energy bills, and the elderly wouldn't have to worry about winter fuel costs.
If the project were able to fuel private interests such as the railways and private businesses they'd be charged at a cheaper rate but would be held as second concern to the overall aim
I'd build a bridge from Dundee to Den Helder with high speed trains you can transport cars on (but not campers because fuck letting the Dutch clog our roads with them)
Air source or ground source heat pumps for every building.
Insulation upgrades for every building, so that the air source or ground source heat pumps being invested in can generate heat more efficiently.
Rooftop solar panels for every building, with energy storage.
Solar water heaters for buildings where heat pumps can’t be installed.
Electric vehicle charging points for every residential parking space. Electric vehicle charging points at every parking space in commercial carparks (as opposed to a token 2-3 max at The Big Tesco).
Publicly held bus fleets with enough units to offer frequent direct routes between villages and between suburbs, that bypass city centres entirely. The routes selected would be based on evidence of the most frequently driven car journeys, such as Housing Development A to Industrial Estate B.
All housing raised to passive haus standards.
Reverse the beeching cuts, introduce a ticket for all like they have in London e.g. hop on hop off. Have some connection to Ireland other than a port that's in the arse end of nowhere
Either
1) Bullet Trains between all major hubs. Inverness to Weegieville in an hour.
2) Autobahn-ify the A9/M90 & A1/M74. Motorway all the way from the borders to the islands.
3) Governmental takeover of Stagecoach, increasing the electric fleet and making it far more reliable, making sure that rural communities aren't left with a thumb up their arses cos they don't have a bus route
I would dual the A96, remaining bits of the A9 and remove all average speed camera’s, LEZ camera’s and gatso’s too while I’m at it.
A copenhagen style metro for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Inverness, with an Elizabeth line style connector between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The elizabeth line is 73 miles long, the same distance as greenock to Musselburgh, so would be doable.
Complete Forrestburn Circuit
Make it so that our shores are safe and unpolluted by industry/farming and Invest in a sewerage system that doesn't pump crazy amounts of shit into our seas.
Invest in all deprived areas and knock down shitty 60/70's buildings that are an eyesore and falling apart and grey. Ayrshire is a shit hole but the scenery is amazing and it should be a prime destination.
Invest in the education system and create things for young people to do to keep them off the streets. Try and turn lives around and change people's mentalities when it comes to living off of benefits, give them a reason to work and a chance at a future that doesn't involve scrounging off of the government.
The UK as a whole is pretty fucked and hanging by a thread but Scotland is especially deprived when it really should be in a powerful position. I could go on and on about improving healthcare and tackling crime but really there needs to be a major shift in attitude otherwise we are all fucked.
Also, bridges and trams everywhere.
Repair Caithness roads Or Add high speed train from Caithness to Inverness Or Build a new bigger hospital within closer distance so we stop having to go to Inverness for 95% of things
Public bunkers.
Housing to the point there's a surplus. 24 hour free public transport and very generous pay for staffing it, back to being a job for life. Huge recruitment drive for the clenny - Street bins at every convenient point that are emptied regularly, flower beds, hanging baskets, mass beautification of public spaces and staff to maintain it. Public toilets that are also accessible, roads and drainage brought up to snuff. More play parks, dog parks, free sports facilities, free school trips around Scotland, reasons for the elderly to get out of the hous. Benches for sitting, benches at bus stops and train stations. But most importantly this is rolled out EVERYWHERE. Not just in areas where people know councillors personally or have time to constantly write letters to get basic stuff done or maintained. Oh, and a campaign to stop people from feeding fucking seagulls.
Bridge/tunnel to Bergan.
Start up "Project Town Centres". Pretty much all our town centres are so run down, and empty and need a good makeover. Build new activity centres, that would encourage people back into the town, soft play for the kids, handicraft lessons, book swops, etc. l'm sure there are enterprising folk out there that can come up with plenty of ideas. Encourage small family businesses to set up their shops, without having to fork out astronomical amounts on taxes. Obviously there should be plenty of meeting places such as cafés, pubs etc., even a paved area in the centre with seats and a garden area.
Good links to Europe. Housing for all.
As an Argyll Cllr I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest the Argyll sea highway - a series of bridges and tunnels that would connect the sea lochs and peninsulas that would mean it would be possible to drive from Glasgow to Scotland in about an hour instead of 3-4. It would open up large parts of Argyll to people who want to live here and address our depopulation - and mean that Glasgow would gain a huge amount of new places within commuter distance.
Unlimited fanny
Grease pits to fill with various lubricants.
We could slither among each other. As a community.
I like those pics on FB of Korean motorways with cycle routes right up the middle, covered with solar panels. Some of them up the M8 / 77/ 74
A super sweet bike highway from Inverness to Aberdeen! And maybe even from coast to coast and up to Thurso via Wick.
Safe, dry, warm housing for all (ensuring there are no food deserts). Fix all the potholes and get a train system that actually works.
Unlimited budget may not be enough to fix the potholes and trains!
Re-wilding. We need to stop tarmacking over our beautiful country.
Tunnels linking Cowal, Bute, Kintyre, Jura and Islay with Glasgow & Clydeside. People think these beautiful places are 'remote', but they're closer than Dundee just left apart because of the disappearance of the old ferry services & expense of planes. Also, Mull now that I think of it.
I’d make the train from Edinburgh to London faster.
Public owned Nuclear power stations built in a sustainable and safe way, connected to every building, via underground cabling. With no return on investment required.
With unlimited, free electricity. The cost of materials and sustainability of other projects would drop massively. Transport would benefit from free power sources, etc.
We could then sell power to other countries to fund other social projects. Such as transport, homes, etc
Basically unlimited oil without the drawbacks. (nuclear power is very, very safe, when managed properly.)
Create a central power grid not connected to the rest of the uk where our renewable electricity energy goes because nobody in Scotland should be paying such high energy bills.
A massive wall
Tidal energy, carbon capture and storage, battery storage technology. We have the potential and capabilities to boost the electrical infrastructure and create jobs
I would give a glass roof to something like 100 square miles.
This would be properly designed, of course, with ventilation panes, that can open and close, and maintenance walkways, and downpipes for water, and computerised monitoring to make the space under the roof a pleasant place to be.
It would probably only admit electric vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles.
We would experiment with different environments under the roof - some villages, a small town, a manufacturing space, some parks.
I've punted this idea for 20 years; I love Scotland, but I don't love rain, and I think it's reasonable to experiment.
Fix the roads
Blimpport linking every island with each major city. Dundee-North Uist by airship shall be a thing.
Radically capitalise on the energy crisis. We have much of Europe's potential renewable power, and the highest energy prices in Europe. That's an opportunity that we should be drooling at.
All we need to do is:
This would reduce our reliance on expensive peaker plant use, time-shift more renewable supply to when it's needed, export the rest. That would knock the bulk of the cost off our bills almost overnight.
We can't literally go 100% green without a lot of construction and cost. But new technology means that we can unlock much, much more cheap and green energy from our existing system.
A monorail
Fully integrated transport, high speed trains everywhere with freight lines.
Bridge to Ireland.
Bridge to Belfast and tunnel to Netherlands.
Simples
Fill the potholes
I'd invest in a shit load of energy production, mostly wind and tidal, maybe some nuclear too. Storage for it all, battery and pumped hydro. Make us have the cheapest, greenest energy in the world. Then invest in AI infrastructure, big data centres etc. and in chip manufacturing plants. Work in collaboration with our universities to train the necessary engineers, developers and labour force. Just make it as appealing as possible for Scotland to become a centre of the AI industry. Edinburgh could lead on AI in insurance, accountancy, law and finance. Glasgow on industry, commerce and creative industries. Dundee on life science and agronomy.
On smaller scale I'd love to invest in more music and art centres for all communities across Scotland. Growing up I had a charity that offered weekly band practice and put on regular gigs in the town I went to school in and it was amazing for so many of us. It created a community, gave us amazing experiences and was a great outlet. I'd love it if all decent sized town had something like that, and not just music - film, art, woodworking, pottery, etc.
Independence
Nuclear power plants. Both large highly efficient ones to provide a base load, and smaller ones (utilising the a design based of nuclear submarines) which are faster to both ramp up and slow down production to react to demand. Plus a massive electric grid capacity upgrade. All this to allow as many energy dependent processes as possible to be electrified (transport, heating, arc furnaces, literally whatever possible).
Tunnels to and between all the islands from the mainland. They've done it in the Faroes.
There's something about the character of the place that would change if it was fully connected to the mainland like it has done in Skye.
A lot of islanders would prefer just having reliable ferries and more reasonable flights, the islands are already dealing with a lot camper vans without having near unlimited capacity to get back and forth.
Tourism is good but camper vans don't spend much typically, they often leave a mess and clog up roads that aren't designed to cope with them.
Gigabit broadband across the whole of the country including the islands would be transformative.
I don't know how I would make it better, I really just want to moan but F#CK The traffic on the Kingston Bridge. Also, OMG to whoever decided to put a bus lane coming from Barrhead Road into SilverBurn, causing unnecessary traffic and chaos, on what was once a nice pleasant not overly busy road on the way from Paisley to Silverburn.
I mean the serious things that need done are dueling the road between Perth and Inverness and from Inverness to Aberdeen. If it was unlimited would even extend to Wick.
Also building nuclear power stations to give Scotland cheap electricity would be up there.
Cheap energy equals economic growth - nuclear power
Modern airport between Airdrie and Bargeddie - would service Glasgow, Edinburgh, Lanarkshire, and Fife, Stirling.
High speed rail to London and Glasgow to Edinburgh
Implementing the scale, efficiency, and affordability of German public transport in Glasgow and Edinburgh
Dualling the A9
Future proof every home, build good road and rail links, more wind and tidal power, and less fossil fuels.
As has been mentioned numerous times before, I'd definitely invest in high-speed rail infrastructure. Glasgow to Edinburgh (15 mins), Edinburgh to Aberdeen in 45 mins etc. Id also convert the existing suburban rail lines around Glasgow into a metro system with automated trains and platform doors, which could increase the number of services running and increasing the running if the services into the late night (24hrs if possible). Doing this would massively boost employment and greatly reduce car dependency as most suburban dwellers are inward commuters into Glasgow and Edinburgh. It could also increase employment opportunities for people who live in areas underserved by public transport.
I'd motion for more housing to be built with a mandate for councils to provide adequate amenities such as shopping, eating out, healthcare, gyms and swimming pools along with youth clubs and sports facilities. There's generally fuck all for the youth to do in most of Scotland and its hard to blame them for drink/drug problems, prioritsing this by building facilities to give them something to would reduce anti-social behaviour I reckon. Residents of the areas would be given discounts to incentivise them to eat or shop locally. I really think it would increase employment opportunities in poorer areas where they're few and far between.
Building tunnels to link the islands (Islay, Mull etc) with the mainland, eliminating the need for ferries which wreack havoc on islanders lives and livelihoods. Building a road and rail tunnels between Port Glasgow and Dumbarton could be a good investment too, cutting down travel time avoiding the Erskine Bridge and linking West Dunbartonshire with Inverclyde. It would also eliminate the need to travel to Glasgow to reach Greenock, Gourock and other areas in Inverclyde (by train).
I'd also like to improve the cycling infrastructure and build new cyclepaths highlighting the beautiful landscape of Scotland.
I digress, with an unlimited budget I'd really be sitting here all day with the ideas spilling out my head!
unlimited budget? pick the whole country up and move it slightly closer to the equator
High speed train between Edinburgh and Toronto....including a rather long bridge. Ideally I'd like the commute to equal the flight time which is roughly 6 and a half hours.
For Dundee -
Move the tay Road bridge out of the city centre, park and rides out each way of the city, longer runway to get bigger jets Ring road around dundee like aberdeens, Concert hall and exhibition centres, tram / underground to each of the estates to start with.
The wall
I'd demolish the M8 and the Clydeside Expressway. Or at least cover the M8, big dig style. Reconnect the city and create some amazing new spaces in the centre/west end.
A giant English flag carved in to the side of Ben Nevis. Like mount Rushmore. People would lose their fucking minds.
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports are an embarrassment. I would construct a new national airport between Edinburgh and Glasgow, with an integrated train station. It should be possible to get to the airport from any major town without having to change train or transport mode.
Get an actual architect so it is more like Singapore/Doha rather than a dilapidated garage with random metal boxes stuck on. Operate as a hub airport.
I’d also use compulsory purchase orders to widen our road network so all arterial roads have dedicated cycle paths.
It might be a bit unrealistic but i'd dual the A9.
Modernize ALL houses.
Massive energy and transport project:
All moorland and upland back in public hands Rewild. Reintroduce wolves, lynx, large herbivores. Solve the problem of installing solar on peatlands, install solar. And onshore/offshore wind. And wave/tidal/hydro.
Community Energy companies on a massive scale. Walking and cycling infrastructure in every town and city. Ban private cars from cities and towns, replace with a free public transport system and taxis.
Train every possible person to retrofit every building in the country, connecting them all to heat pumps or heat networks.
And while I'm at it, legalise and tax all drugs.
Agree with high speed rail. Basically the whole public travel system.
I want France’s double decker trains, they’d the the first thing I’d buy.
A bridge to Ireland. Easy to do. Shortest point to point is about 12miles. Then there'll be a land connection with EU. Economically, very smart move.
If the budget included funding for jobs then, fully refurbish existing and build new hospitals and other necessary medical infrastructure (GP clinics, ambulances etc) and schools.
Every parking space in scotland gets a rapid EV charger
This is the biggest problem EVs have right now, we have more chargers than cars, but they are all fast (6hrs)… and you need to plan ahead to park in a charging bay
Instead, you should be able to drive to the shop, do a half hour weekly buy, and come out to a fully charged car (rapid takes about 1.5hrs)
If every parking space in scotland had a rapid charger, the biggest issue for driving an EV would be eliminated
First of all more trains just generally they are already excellent.
Second make trains with a cargo carriage to encourage longer journeys where cars would be used and it would cut down on co2.
Also connect the Inverness line to Fort William and make other connections such as Stirling to Crianlarich.
And more hydrogen vehicles those are just so good.
Make the trains free or incredibly cheap £40 to aviemore is daylight robbery
Remove Grangemouth
Flatten the whole of Livingston and turn it into a mega carpark
High-speed rail connecting all the main population centres. Like proper Shinkansen trains.