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There's no chance Stonehaven to the airport will be open by the 3rd of September is there? I have a flight that morning, although I'll be passing through central Aberdeen early enough that there shouldn't be any issues with traffic.
Burns wrote: ↑Sun Jul 22, 2018 18:43
There's no chance Stonehaven to the airport will be open by the 3rd of September is there? I have a flight that morning, although I'll be passing through central Aberdeen early enough that there shouldn't be any issues with traffic.
Difficult to say with 100% certainty. Going by Iain's latest photos, there doesn't look much to do at Milltimber, but it depends on how they're progressing elsewhere. All being well, we could see it opened within say the next month or so. In that case, happy days!
On the other hand, they might decide to wait till the Craibstone-Goval stretch is complete before opening the southern leg of the route. If that is the case, then you'll have to put up with either the city centre or Anderson Drive, etc.
I was up there a couple of weeks ago for a funeral and thought it all looked about ready to open.
Would be nice for me if the south section opens in the next fortnight, as I will be up there again, I would be getting off at Milltimber to visit family in Peterculter, though the other option is over the Cairn, as I have other family to visit in Edzell and Drumoak.
Apparently farmers have just realised that they won't be able to use the AWPR in their tractors, and are "up in arms" about it. This story made the local radio, where they explained that the road would have "motorway restrictions despite being an A-road", and even explained that it will be a Special Road. The Transport Scotland representative stated that NFU Scotland had been consulted back in 2010 or whenever. This story has a fuller statement from them.
No doubt this confusion could have been avoided had the road simply been designated M90 or A90(M) in the first place!
That's the problem with current farming practice. There really shouldn't be any need for farmers to have to travel that far in their slowmobiles, let alone even consider using roads like the AWPR. Also, unless I'm wrong, all the local and B roads which people used as an unofficial bypass for years will still be there.
The whole point of building the A90 was to provide for long–distance heavy stategic traffic to avoid the extensive suburban areas on the superseded A90 Anderson Drive and thro' the city centre – Farmer Giles and his tractor has no business on it!
If I was still on my Camino moped or Honda Cub 90 from twenty years ago, I would no doubt have been disappointed at not being able to use the new road, but on the other hand I would have hoped traffic on the superseded routes would have been reduced enough to make the old routes safer to use on two wheels!
I don't care how much the farming lot rant and rave, I would be extremely annoyed if TS gave–in to them and added Class IV to the AWPR Special Road Order!
Chris Williams
PS!
The A720 Edinburgh Bypass originally permitted Class IV and VII (other powered vehicles/agricultural vehicles/bicycles) but Lothian Council sensibly recognised the hazards of such traffic on such a heavily–trafficked bypass and amended the Special Road Order to prohibit these classes – altho' the "Prohibition Of Slow Vehicles (Experimental) Order 1994" wasn't originally intended to be permanent, I expect there's zero chance of L.C. rescinding it!
PPS!
Are farmers entitled to use "rebated red diesel" in these things they drive for long distances on busy trunk roads to the annoyance of long distance traffic?
Banning rebated diesel in tractors & JCBs, etc., would, I think, alleviate most of the jams and inconvenience caused on our faster routes by these vehicles!
Last edited by Chris56000 on Fri Jul 27, 2018 20:51, edited 1 time in total.
orudge wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 09:43
Apparently farmers have just realised that they won't be able to use the AWPR in their tractors, and are "up in arms" about it. This story made the local radio, where they explained that the road would have "motorway restrictions despite being an A-road", and even explained that it will be a Special Road. The Transport Scotland representative stated that NFU Scotland had been consulted back in 2010 or whenever. This story has a fuller statement from them.
No doubt this confusion could have been avoided had the road simply been designated M90 or A90(M) in the first place!
They could always take a leaf of their French colleagues book, and just blockade the road when it opens
Chris56000 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 20:30
The A720 Edinburgh Bypass originally permitted Class IV and VII (other powered vehicles/agricultural vehicles/bicycles) but Lothian Council sensibly recognised the hazards of such traffic on such a heavily–trafficked bypass and amended the Special Road Order to prohibit these classes – altho' the "Prohibition Of Slow Vehicles (Experimental) Order 1994" wasn't originally intended to be permanent, I expect there's zero chance of L.C. rescinding it!
I thought the city bypass, though built as non-trunk, was later trunked, so it would be for Scottish Government / Transport Scotland to rescind it.
orudge wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 09:43
No doubt this confusion could have been avoided had the road simply been designated M90 or A90(M) in the first place!
I think this would have merely caused the farmers to object before construction started. That seems to be the reason Ax is preferred over Mx, after all.
Road orders are being published for Stonehaven to Craibstone and Cleanhill to Charleston.
Apparently "there is still a significant amount of work to be undertaken by the contractor before these new sections can open safely" (which seems to be taking some time for Balmedie - Tipperty). But hopefully we may be able to drive on everything except Craibstone to Parkhill before October. (Although given there's meant to be this family fun weekend in September, I'm guessing we may be waiting until then at least before the open the road at Milltimber at least).
Rumours flying around Twitter though that there are major issues with a bridge at Dyce...
Burns wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 19:00
That's the problem with current farming practice. There really shouldn't be any need for farmers to have to travel that far in their slowmobiles, let alone even consider using roads like the AWPR. Also, unless I'm wrong, all the local and B roads which people used as an unofficial bypass for years will still be there.
The unfortunate fact is that the only way to make a farm pay is to amalgamate farms and/or consolidate tractors and machinery. Gone are the days when a farm would have 4-5 medium sized tractors, its now more likely to be 1-2 large/extra large units with a contractor filling in with specialised kit.
orudge wrote: ↑Fri Jul 27, 2018 09:43
No doubt this confusion could have been avoided had the road simply been designated M90 or A90(M) in the first place!
I think this would have merely caused the farmers to object before construction started. That seems to be the reason Ax is preferred over Mx, after all.
Billy Walton lives on...
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Are farmers entitled to use "rebated red diesel" in these things they drive for long distances on busy trunk roads to the annoyance of long distance traffic?
Banning rebated diesel in tractors & JCBs, etc., would, I think, alleviate most of the jams and inconvenience caused on our faster routes by these vehicles!
You'll never get an accurate, straight answer on that without giving exact details of the journey in question. A short distance could be banned (in terms of red use) whereas a long one could be OK, opposite could apply depending on if you're directly employed, contractor, subcontractor etc.
What's interesting is that the road follows Highways England 'expressway' stand with their Ax(M) idea. As far as I'm aware, the only road Highways England has built to this standard is the A556, and we hope, they'll one day go for special road status and put up blue signs.
Here in Scotland, we seem to be in the opposite situation - straight in for special road (yay), but nah, lets forget about blue signs or expressways. And if they did change their mind now, it means a large added cost for new signage.
On the ground, the signage looks (to my untrained eyes) to be motorway-spec (in terms of physical size, etc), only green. (Also ignoring the dreadful 'A90 North' / 'A90 South' thing.)
