Work is to begin today on a notorious accident blackspot on the A9 - more than two years after improvements to the junction were due to have been completed.

John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, will mark the start of the £15m programme of work by "breaking the ground" at the Ballinluig junction in Perthshire.

The 12-month scheme will deliver a fly-over junction, meaning northbound traffic to Aberfeldy will no longer have to turn right across oncoming southbound vehicles on the existing short stretch of dual carriageway.

Local access will also be improved and a 600m section of the A9 will be upgraded to dual carriageway. An accident at the junction claimed the life of a pensioner a little over eight months ago. However, Mr Swinney, as the local MSP, has been campaigning for the upgrading of the junction since four members of an Israeli family on holiday in Scotland died after a lorry and their hired car collided at Ballinluig in 2001.

The following year the Scottish Executive announced it would upgrade the junction at a cost of £4.2m, with work to be completed by early 2005.

However, when work had not even started by August that year, Mr Swinney said at the time: "I have repeatedly raised concerns with ministers at the delay in undertaking the work at the Ballinluig junction. There has been enormous slippage in this project for no obvious reason. I have been told by two ministers that there would be absolutely no delay then there is more delay."

The official explanation was that ground conditions were "much poorer than expected", but work was due to start later that year.

The Scottish Executive was committed to the project and officials were said to be trying to expedite matters. However, in April 2006 a spade had still not been lifted at Ballinluig. Protests lodged by several anonymous objectors further delayed the work. Community leaders demanded to know objectors' identities and warned if they further delayed the project by forcing it to a public inquiry "they should be aware local opinion and publicity will ensure it is an uncomfortable experience for them".

Transport Scotland refused to identify the objectors but within a week they had withdrawn their objections, clearing the final way for work to begin this summer. However, last October a 78-year-old man died in a three-car crash at the junction. He had to be freed from his Fiat Punto before being flown to hospital in Dundee where he later died of head injuries.

Norman McCandlish, as chairman of the Mid Atholl, Grandtully and Strathtay Community Council, led the local campaign for the improvement for many years. He recently retired as chairman and was unavailable to comment yesterday. However, his successor as chairman, Stuart Smith, told The Herald: "We are obviously delighted that work is finally starting after so many delays.

"We just hope it keeps on track and there are no other hitches. Our campaign was co-ordinated by Norman McCandlish, who successfully highlighted the deep local concern over the junction over a period of many years and must take the credit. We had the tragedy of the Israeli family in 2001 and again just last year a man died as a result of a crash at the junction.

"That and other accidents might have been avoided if work had begun earlier.

"There are often near misses. It is a very confusing junction, particularly in the summer months when there are a lot of tourists on the road, many of them used to driving on the other side."