Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

[RichardB]

Bing have updated their mapping to show the road as open, though the navigation part doesn't seem to use it yet.

Is there any talk of a reduced speed limit on the old A90? I have been expecting a 50 limit to be slapped on it from the "tight" bends at Bridge of Muchalls to the edge of the City.

My satnav has been telling me to use the bypass for months, although in the past few weeks it seems to have marked it all as "there but closed" and has stopped trying to use it.

[orudge]

From the department of "maybe they know something we don't", a temporary road closure on the C89C (Chapel of Stoneywood - Fairley Road, aka the Kingswells bypass) has the AWPR listed as the official diversion route. The road is closed 25th - 28th September.

I'd already heard the 25th mentioned on Twitter - maybe, just maybe, we'll get on the road next week?

[Euan]

Hopefully the road will be open next week. I'm aware that most of the signs on the old A90 have been amended to reflect on the fact that it is now the A92.

[Gordon_M]

I noticed on a bus this morning that they had a notice up for a consultation about the new 747 route from Montrose to Peterhead, via Stonehaven, AWPR, Airport ( I'm sure the fact that the 747 route stops at the airport is just a coincidence ... ) and Ellon

[orudge]

Supposedly the road was damaged by the road festival event and is now undergoing remedial works following oil spills and other unnamed damage. According to the source the road was ready to open 3 weeks ago. Take with a pinch of salt of course, but not great if they’re having to repair it already!

[Burns]

Supposedly the road was damaged by the road festival event and is now undergoing remedial works following oil spills and other unnamed damage. According to the source the road was ready to open 3 weeks ago. Take with a pinch of salt of course, but not great if they’re having to repair it already!

Aye, sure. I really doubt some pedestrians and cyclists are going to tear up the road surface... If that genuinely is what's happened, I dread to think what a truck and protest-tractor are going to do to it.

[Sulzer:1999]

Supposedly the road was damaged by the road festival event and is now undergoing remedial works following oil spills and other unnamed damage. According to the source the road was ready to open 3 weeks ago. Take with a pinch of salt of course, but not great if they’re having to repair it already!

Aye, sure. I really doubt some pedestrians and cyclists are going to tear up the road surface... If that genuinely is what's happened, I dread to think what a truck and protest-tractor are going to do to it.

Ah, but, there was a display of vintage vehicles just short of the bridge, (er, nice to look at I’m sure, but really appropriate in the context of a fast road?)
But where the scrape & patch was done was well away from the display area. It will no doubt become an annoying feature to drive over.
With the revelation that (most of) the road could have been open before the event, maybe any public goodwill has been lost.
Just a thought, other high profile Scottish infrastructure projects such as the Borders Railway, Queensferry Crossing & E & G electrification have all had semi official books published about them, somehow I feel that the torrid process over the last 15 years or so will not be celebrated in this manner.

Murray Duncan

[SuperLez]

From the department of "maybe they know something we don't", a temporary road closure on the C89C (Chapel of Stoneywood - Fairley Road, aka the Kingswells bypass) has the AWPR listed as the official diversion route. The road is closed 25th - 28th September.

I'd already heard the 25th mentioned on Twitter - maybe, just maybe, we'll get on the road next week?

I hope that this signals that the whole road (minus the Craibstone-Goval stretch) is finally set to open and it isn't just a temporary opening of a small stretch round about Kingswells until a good for nothing back road is reopened.

[SuperLez]

Hopefully the road will be open next week. I'm aware that most of the signs on the old A90 have been amended to reflect on the fact that it is now the A92.

After all the delays and promises, I'm not holding my breath.

[SuperLez]

Supposedly the road was damaged by the road festival event and is now undergoing remedial works following oil spills and other unnamed damage. According to the source the road was ready to open 3 weeks ago. Take with a pinch of salt of course, but not great if they’re having to repair it already!

Aye, sure. I really doubt some pedestrians and cyclists are going to tear up the road surface... If that genuinely is what's happened, I dread to think what a truck and protest-tractor are going to do to it.

Ah, but, there was a display of vintage vehicles just short of the bridge, (er, nice to look at I’m sure, but really appropriate in the context of a fast road?)
But where the scrape & patch was done was well away from the display area. It will no doubt become an annoying feature to drive over.
With the revelation that (most of) the road could have been open before the event, maybe any public goodwill has been lost.
Just a thought, other high profile Scottish infrastructure projects such as the Borders Railway, Queensferry Crossing & E & G electrification have all had semi official books published about them, somehow I feel that the torrid process over the last 15 years or so will not be celebrated in this manner.

Murray Duncan

If there is a book on this godforsaken project, they sure as hell won't want me as the bloody author!

[Sulzer:1999]

Surley a AWPR users guide to signage, with a bloopers section....
But it is telling that central belt projects have been highlighted in glossy tomes, whereas, there is a ‘like it or lump it’ vibe to the AWPR, with dodgy junctions & bad signage, etc.

Murray Duncan

[wrinkly]

Scottish Parliament written answer on Tuesday:

Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (Scottish National Party): To ask the
Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the
Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
(S5W-18538)

Michael Matheson: Sections of the project have been opened as they
become available and some sections are already open to traffic, for example
Craibstone and Dyce junctions at Aberdeen Airport and the 7km section of
dual carriageway between Blackdog and Parkhill (Goval). More recently the
section between Balmedie and Tipperty opened on 15 August 2018.
Transport Scotland is working closely with the contractor to bring forward
sections of the project as soon as they are available and safe to open to
traffic. The AWPR/B-T is expected to fully open to traffic in late Autumn 2018.

[matt-thepie]

Meanwhile the Balmedie-Tipperty section is still shown wrongly on Google Maps, despite me reporting it weeks ago. Grr. Drove it a few weeks ago - the old road is almost eerie devoid of the lorries etc that rumbled down it! The new section is fab, though I don't know why they didn't replace the last remaining at-grade crossing (Tarsets/Logie Buchan) at the Tipperty end as part of the project.

The signage is also dreadful - if you need Menie/Cock and Bull pub/Trump (ugh) etc Southbound you have to come off at Tipperty, though the sign rather unhelpfully says "Foveran School". Coming the other way, there are no signs to Ellon anywhere.

[novaecosse]

Scottish Parliament written answer on Tuesday:

Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (Scottish National Party): To ask the
Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the
Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.
(S5W-18538)

Michael Matheson: Sections of the project have been opened as they
become available and some sections are already open to traffic, for example
Craibstone and Dyce junctions at Aberdeen Airport and the 7km section of
dual carriageway between Blackdog and Parkhill (Goval). More recently the
section between Balmedie and Tipperty opened on 15 August 2018.
Transport Scotland is working closely with the contractor to bring forward
sections of the project as soon as they are available and safe to open to
traffic. The AWPR/B-T is expected to fully open to traffic in late Autumn 2018.

That follows the Phasing in the AWPR Project Agreement. (which is googleable)

Phase 1 - Craibstone Roundabout & Link Roads
Phase 2 - Balmedie to Tipperty
Phase 2A - Goval to Blackdog

All issued with Permit To Use (PTU) and opened to traffic.

The final Phase 3 is the ‘rest of the AWPR’.

Now we all know the Don Bridge isn’t yet complete.

I think the reason they can’t open Stonehaven to Craibstone, is they can’t achieve Substantial Completion or PTU on Phase 3 without a change to the Project Agreement. Which means lawyers get involved.

In DBFO Contracts, PTU is a legally significant date. It marks the change from New Works to O&M (Operation & Maintenance) and the start of the concession period.
It’s also the point that monthly payments start being made for the road.

I have 2 trains of thought...

1. Lawyers could agree a change to the Phasing and allow PTU to be issued for the southern section to Craibstone.

2. The Contracting Authority could tell the DBFO Company to honour the contract as per the Project Agreement.

[orudge]

Interesting, although traffic management has been set out at Craibstone to divert all traffic off for a few weeks now, so presumably it is/was the plan to open at least some of the road.

[novaecosse]

Interesting, although traffic management has been set out at Craibstone to divert all traffic off for a few weeks now, so presumably it is/was the plan to open at least some of the road.

A fairly sizeable area of surface course was being planed off the southbound carriageway at Milltimber this morning.

Two 2m planers, working both lanes.

[SuperLez]

Parts of the bypass could be opened early next month:-

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/new ... xt-month1/

Interesting that there is no mention of the partial opening between Craibstone and Kingswells next week.

[Euan]

The OS 50k map appears to have been updated and now shows a mostly red-dotted dual carriageway along the whole route with the exception of a short section north of the A96 at Craibstone and the River Don crossing at Goval, where it is just red-dotted lines on their own and no road outline. The Blackdog - Goval section doesn't have any dotted lines over it, but the uncoloured dual carriageway is there. This is quite a considerable change on the map layer and with sections of the road set to open soon, perhaps another indicator that the project is near completion.

[B9127]

10 Years from Public Inquiry and still not open -is that a record

[SouthWest Philip]

10 Years from Public Inquiry and still not open -is that a record

Depends, I guess. Are there any road projects that went to public inquiry that then didn't get built?