Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Owain
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Owain »

orudge wrote: Fri Jul 24, 2020 19:18 Traffic lights are now being installed on the A944 Kingswells roundabout, delayed from April:

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... -junction/

Queues during these works have apparently been quite bad - I guess a fair few folk are back at work now.
I drove through there two days ago - I don't recall any disruption, so the works are presumably done now.

orudge wrote: Fri Feb 21, 2020 17:58Given somebody was done for doing something stupid like 150mph on the A956 the other week, I assume the legalities of 70 vs NSL signs on a special road are academic when it comes to such speeds! (Or maybe it just wasn’t challenged at court?)
I drove the new A956 link road on the same day (although not at 150, just in case anybody was wondering).

The thing I find odd about it is that they've linked it to the A90 via a normal roundabout. They've grade-separated every other junction, but the one that would appear to be the most important (barring the ones at each end) just has a simple design.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Owain wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:20 I drove through there two days ago - I don't recall any disruption, so the works are presumably done now.
Yep, they were done last year - I’ve generally been driving through that junction every day for the past couple of months and it’s not too bad. Haven’t been through at typical commuting times though. The only thing that really frustrates me is that they seem to be 24/7 lights, so occasionally I’ll get stuck at them for a couple of minutes at midnight when there’s barely anything else around.
Owain wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:20 The thing I find odd about it is that they've linked it to the A90 via a normal roundabout. They've grade-separated every other junction, but the one that would appear to be the most important (barring the ones at each end) just has a simple design.
A grade separated fork was proposed but the roundabout was chosen on the grounds of a) cost and b) resilience (allowing traffic between Stonehaven and Aberdeen to use the route if the A92 is closed).

I wonder if they’ve fallen out of favour but a trumpet would surely not have been that much more expensive and would have allowed full access. (The former A90/A956 trumpet further east was of course ripped up and replaced with a light-controlled diamond interchange.)

All that said, the roundabout never seems too busy when I use it, especially now that people seem to have stopped crashing right into it.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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orudge wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:51
Owain wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:20 I drove through there two days ago - I don't recall any disruption, so the works are presumably done now.
Yep, they were done last year - I’ve generally been driving through that junction every day for the past couple of months and it’s not too bad. Haven’t been through at typical commuting times though. The only thing that really frustrates me is that they seem to be 24/7 lights, so occasionally I’ll get stuck at them for a couple of minutes at midnight when there’s barely anything else around.
:oops: - I'm not wearing my reading glasses, and must have misread the date on that post (Jan 17, 2020 / Jun 17, 2021).

orudge wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:51
Owain wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 21:20 The thing I find odd about it is that they've linked it to the A90 via a normal roundabout. They've grade-separated every other junction, but the one that would appear to be the most important (barring the ones at each end) just has a simple design.
A grade separated fork was proposed but the roundabout was chosen on the grounds of a) cost and b) resilience (allowing traffic between Stonehaven and Aberdeen to use the route if the A92 is closed).

I wonder if they’ve fallen out of favour but a trumpet would surely not have been that much more expensive and would have allowed full access. (The former A90/A956 trumpet further east was of course ripped up and replaced with a light-controlled diamond interchange.)

All that said, the roundabout never seems too busy when I use it, especially now that people seem to have stopped crashing right into it.
Reminds me of this unfinished roundabout in Sardinia. I remember that piece of road as a tight bend without any signage whatsoever, with the result that the tarmac was always covered in skid marks and the barrier was always smashed up.

The crash situation improved after they built the roundabout several years, but as far as I'm aware it still doesn't connect to anything!
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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I’ve certainly found the new signals at South Kingswells to be a boost when coming off A90 southbound at peak times. My longest queuing time (pre lights) was 11 minutes! Almost backed up onto the main road from the slip at that point.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Sunil_of_Yoxley »

A little too far south to be on-topic - but is the Dundee Northern Relief Road an actual project or just an aspiration?
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by orudge »

I think just the latter, and moreso, an aspiration from 13 years ago.

“STPR2 Phase 2” is due to report back in the autumn, so we’ll see if the project has made the cut to get back in. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if in 13 years time it’s still not under development.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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https://www.transport.gov.scot/publicat ... 10194c-34/

its being talked about - thats better than not being talked about in an official capacity - i would out a bet on that this is going to be looked at as benefit and will be done eventually
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Sunil_of_Yoxley »

orudge wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 19:45 I think just the latter, and moreso, an aspiration from 13 years ago.

“STPR2 Phase 2” is due to report back in the autumn, so we’ll see if the project has made the cut to get back in. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if in 13 years time it’s still not under development.
That's a shame - I still haven't updated the "M6 Extended Remix" thread yet, but I'm starting to go with your idea of adding the M73/M80/M9/A9 route, along with the two "spurs" of the M90, then A90 till at least Dundee. But I really want a decent bit of road to connect to the A90 near Forfar. Then add the current A90 to Stonehaven, then the A92 into Aberdeen. Then that would be a single continuous Dover to Aberdeen expressway, with the only new build required being from Sidcup to Kidbrooke ("A20(M)"), Leytonstone to Woodford (M11 missing bit), and then the Dundee Northern Relief Road.

OTOH, looking at the A9 between Dunblane and Perth, I count at least 40 farm accesses, and another 30 on the A90 between Perth and Dundee! So I guess I'll have to add the odd LAR or two...
Last edited by Sunil_of_Yoxley on Thu Aug 05, 2021 21:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Sunil_of_Yoxley »

Gav wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 20:49 https://www.transport.gov.scot/publicat ... 10194c-34/

its being talked about - thats better than not being talked about in an official capacity - i would out a bet on that this is going to be looked at as benefit and will be done eventually
Ooops, replied to Owen before I saw your message Gav!

Well, that's a little hopeful!

Kingsway West at least has a couple of GSJs, but it also has a fair few roundabouts - and traffic lights and a left-turn to get to Forfar and beyond!
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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That page however is the report I was referring to from 2008. I haven’t been able to find anything concrete about it since. I do recall some news articles where at least one of the local councils (can’t remember if it was Dundee or Angus) was against the proposal, however.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Since I moved to Buchan in February I haven't seen much in the way of mad traffic - perhaps traffic levels have not returned to pre-Covid levels. Reading back through this threat on the A90(notM) there is understandable criticism of the junction layouts. But from what I have seen there aren't traffic horrors off the back of it.

Stonehaven junction - Southbound the roundabout and right turn at lights is a bit sad but I haven't seen it clogged up or remotely close to it. Traffic flowing onwards onto the A92 to / from Aberdeen seems comparable with that joining / departing for the Fastlink.

The roundabout with the A956 - not ideal but again I haven't seen it cause problems.

Blackdog Junction - as with Stonehaven if I am heading south in morning rush most traffic is continuing towards Aberdeen. So perhaps the TOTSO for the A90 reflects the main traffic flow being for the A92?

If they want to spend more money up here the Toll of Birness junction can be a pain to get out of southbound and then a 40mph trundle south to Ellon, so the proposal to dual this and stick a roundabout in would help. Though I would prefer them to spend money getting the proposed Fraserburgh & Peterhead rail lines put back in.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by AAndy »

Just over 4 years since this opened.

I've uploaded a video from the A92 until the A96 junction.

Normal 4k Quality version here: https://youtu.be/k8r8rgALGzM

Best quality version here: https://youtu.be/o1B7JE7U9DY
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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The A92 has been closed today at Muchalls due to an accident and significant fuel spillage resulting in a need to resurface the road. All traffic has therefore been diverted along the AWPR at Stonehaven. This has resulted in all kinds of chaos, with folk saying it’s taken 2 hours(!) to get from the A92 fork south of Stonehaven to the roundabout. Of course, as we know, the Stonehaven junction has all northbound traffic crossing over southbound traffic on the roundabout, which usually copes OK in normal conditions, but has proven to be a complete nightmare today!
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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orudge wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 20:24 The A92 has been closed today at Muchalls due to an accident and significant fuel spillage resulting in a need to resurface the road. All traffic has therefore been diverted along the AWPR at Stonehaven. This has resulted in all kinds of chaos, with folk saying it’s taken 2 hours(!) to get from the A92 fork south of Stonehaven to the roundabout. Of course, as we know, the Stonehaven junction has all northbound traffic crossing over southbound traffic on the roundabout, which usually copes OK in normal conditions, but has proven to be a complete nightmare today!
Glad to see this posted here, it was an utterly miserable experience this evening. It took me just over two hours to travel northbound the mile and a half from Spurryhillock Junction on the A90 to the AWPR Fastlink roundabout. As you rightly say, this was entirely down to the design of the junction since southbound traffic was backing up over the roundabout due to the traffic light timings which hadn’t been altered and were letting, on average, about 6 to 8 vehicles through on to the A90 south at a time. There were no police on site to direct the traffic on the roundabout so there were solid lines of traffic in both lanes preventing northbound traffic crossing the southbound stream. Southbound traffic was backed up around 3 miles from the roundabout. There does tend to be a bit of traffic congestion - perhaps 5 to 10 minutes - at this junction in the mornings and evenings but this level of chaos happens every time the A92 is shut (twice this year so far) or there is a lane closure. To make matters worse the Traffic Scotland website today didn’t list it or show it on the map as a ‘current incident’ but had it buried deep within the ‘roadworks’ layer.

The non free-flowing junction design was unsuitable and inappropriate for the normal traffic flow to begin with but it really shows how totally inadequate it is whenever there’s a hint of disruption. Surely Transport Scotland will have to look at redesigning it sooner rather than later.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by orudge »

Sadly, given that we still have bottlenecks like Broxden and Sheriffhall that no doubt result in thousands of hours more delays annually than the Stonehaven junction, I fear we will be stuck with it.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Mapper89062 »

The junction is unfortunately rather constrained, with a railway line directly to the south and three different local roads to incorporate. I've seen the grade separated designs for the Cleanhill junction but were any other options considered here?

Here's my design, which freeflows the important movements and uses most of what was built for the Fastlink. Two new bridges are needed.
stonehaven.jpg
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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orudge wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 11:18 Sadly, given that we still have bottlenecks like Broxden and Sheriffhall that no doubt result in thousands of hours more delays annually than the Stonehaven junction, I fear we will be stuck with it.
I'd love to know how it was ever justified - the A90 being forced to turn off itself via a right turn blocking all the A90 traffic rejoining the old road... what a complete shower of a junction.

It's almost as if it was designed to fail.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Mapper89062 wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 14:51 Here's my design, which freeflows the important movements and uses most of what was built for the Fastlink. Two new bridges are needed.

stonehaven.jpg
This is basically similar to the M54 J1 rebuild:

https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... 0Plans.pdf

I like this "forkbell" design and think it should be used more often, including for the M6 J11 rebuild in the same project. A variant is at A3(M)/A27.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by haggishunter »

Bryn666 wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 16:28

I'd love to know how it was ever justified - the A90 being forced to turn off itself via a right turn blocking all the A90 traffic rejoining the old road... what a complete shower of a junction.

It's almost as if it was designed to fail.
Wasn’t the junction designed for Fastlink being a single carriageway road to what is now the A956 part of the AWPR, with the A90 following the old road to it’s A956 interchange?
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Dunragit »

I don't think the few times a year the old route is shut is enough to justify actual changes to the junction layout. What might be worthwhile is to have a second traffic light setup ready to go.

Maybe we'll see it happen when there are major works planned to the A92 and the A90 has to act as a preplanned diversionary route for days and weeks. Even if it's just done with temporary traffic lights, it would be a relatively low cost prototype that can demonstrate what can be done in extremis with the junction as it exists today.
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