Elvis Presley is not everyone's cup of tea. Many think of him as simply the King, while others, including myself reckon he was a tad overrated.

To be fair he did sing some bangers, but particularly in his bloated, jumpsuit wearing latter stages he was reduced to a sad nightclub karaoke singer.

He died at the tragically young age of 42 in 1977 after a lifetime of excess and addiction to various prescription drugs and to be fair he left quite a legacy.

Now it appears that his spirit loosely lives on through Transport Scotland and its love of tenders to dual the A9.

Transport Scotland issues £2bn tender for remaining A9 dualling

Do we really need to dual the A9? What about the other Highland roads?

Public local inquiry over proposed £478m section of A9 dualling

So dualling the A9 is a priority? We'll believe it when we see it

The quango has recently announced that firms will be able to bid for contracts worth a total of £1.94bn to complete the dualling of the A9 between Inverness and Perth.

The agency has published a contract notice covering the remaining 58 miles (93 km) of the road not already going through a procurement process.

It said the first of these final contracts would be for the Dalraddy and Slochd section, south of Inverness.

This stretch also includes the replacement of three junctions, including one near Carrbridge.

In January, the Scottish government said the road dualling was on course to be completed by the end of 2035, with half to be done by the end of 2030.

Ministers also say the remaining sections would be paid for from its capital budget - rather than using public and private........

© Herald Scotland