Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

[Glen]

Are there not a couple between Dundee and Perth? Or is my memory playing tricks on me again?

They'll be ex-AA locations, though, which most of the ERTs on non-motorway trunk roads are.

[wrinkly]

I've noticed that both the A9 Kincraig-Dalraddy and the Queensferry Crossing both have Armco barriers fitted. So B-T probably is working off a different design plan to the rest of the AWPR.

I don't know who wrote the above as it appears in a quote attributed to orudge in a post by SuperLez, but I can't find the original post that contains it.

Anyway, the approach roads to the Queensferry crossing have concrete central barriers. Concrete barriers would not be feasible on the bridge itself, or on most long bridges, because the bridge structure would not be rigid enough to match the rigidity of the barrier.

[iainh124a]

A90 River Dee Bridge update (30th September):

September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway River Dee bridge at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr


September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway River Dee bridge at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr


September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway River Dee bridge at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr


September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway River Dee bridge at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr


A956 Cleanhill to Charleston at Newlands Farm (30th September):
Looking West:

September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway at Newlands Farm on Cleanhill to Charleston section of road by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

Looking East:

September 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway at Newlands Farm on Cleanhill to Charleston section of road by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

[orudge]

Nice pictures as usual, Iain!

I don't know if this was posted before - I hadn't noticed it until just now, but Transport Scotland have put some of their own drone footage up on the AWPR site, showing the section between the River Dee and the A96 in pretty good detail, taken at the start of August:

[darkcape]

Highways England are certainly aiming to specify concrete barrier where possible & practical - for very short stretches Armco is cheaper and so is still used. Perhaps Transport Scotland is less strict with its' requirements. I thought I saw some photos of tensioned wire barrier being used, but maybe I'm mixing up the A9.

My other observation is where the central reservation widens for the visibility splay on the curve, it appears to be finished off with some sort of aggregate - which will create a maintenance problem with all the weeds that will be growing and litter that will accumulate - why not surface it or concrete it over?

[novaecosse]

Highways England are certainly aiming to specify concrete barrier where possible & practical - for very short stretches Armco is cheaper and so is still used. Perhaps Transport Scotland is less strict with its' requirements. I thought I saw some photos of tensioned wire barrier being used, but maybe I'm mixing up the A9.

My other observation is where the central reservation widens for the visibility splay on the curve, it appears to be finished off with some sort of aggregate - which will create a maintenance problem with all the weeds that will be growing and litter that will accumulate - why not surface it or concrete it over?

TS follow the same Design Standard, TD19/06.
AWPR will be restricted to certain vehicle classes, as per a motorway, that's why it has High Containment concrete barrier.
The all-purpose dual sections have Normal Containment steel barriers.

I'm sure Aberdeen Roads Limited have analysed the maintenance costs for the duration of the DBFO contract and optimised the design to suit

[wrinkly]

AWPR will be restricted to certain vehicle classes, as per a motorway, that's why it has High Containment concrete barrier.
The all-purpose dual sections have Normal Containment steel barriers.

Seems odd that the type of barrier should be related to whether or not it's a special road. In England concrete barriers have been used on new D2 AP trunk roads such as the A46.

[Osthagen]

I'll have to drive this once it's done, just so that the A90 can stay on my 'Roads I've Driven In Their Entirety' list.

[Gav]

I thought that both the AWPR and Balmedie-Tipperty projects had been merged into one single humungous scheme. So I would have thought that the procurement processes for the schemes would have been merged together into a single central pot.

I believe they did remain separate schemes until 2011 or so once the final legal challenge was defeated and the government announced they’d be procured together. I don’t know at what point the decision regarding barrier types, etc, was made, but I wonder if it was done as part of the design work when the projects were separate, and was then procured on that basis. I don’t know if the contractors/operators would be able to vary it in that case?

Anyway, it’s certainly exciting to see a decent length of new road open (if only as a contraflow)!

I've noticed that both the A9 Kincraig-Dalraddy and the Queensferry Crossing both have Armco barriers fitted. So B-T probably is working off a different design plan to the rest of the AWPR.

I don't honestly know if there will even be a requirement for emergency phones for this scheme as it isn't a motorway, even though only Classes I and II of traffic can use it. I do know that there will be emergency laybys provided every mile or so however.

I think I’m right in saying the Brechin bypass has emergency phones, but I don’t think much/any of the rest of the A90 north of Perth has any.

Are there not a couple between Dundee and Perth? Or is my memory playing tricks on me again?

https://goo.gl/maps/mvgatDh1rSm

Brechin bypass has sos phones on the layby, however not emergency layby but standard laybys, laybys are also not set away from the road.

[SuperLez]

I believe they did remain separate schemes until 2011 or so once the final legal challenge was defeated and the government announced they’d be procured together. I don’t know at what point the decision regarding barrier types, etc, was made, but I wonder if it was done as part of the design work when the projects were separate, and was then procured on that basis. I don’t know if the contractors/operators would be able to vary it in that case?

Anyway, it’s certainly exciting to see a decent length of new road open (if only as a contraflow)!

I've noticed that both the A9 Kincraig-Dalraddy and the Queensferry Crossing both have Armco barriers fitted. So B-T probably is working off a different design plan to the rest of the AWPR.


I think I’m right in saying the Brechin bypass has emergency phones, but I don’t think much/any of the rest of the A90 north of Perth has any.

Are there not a couple between Dundee and Perth? Or is my memory playing tricks on me again?

https://goo.gl/maps/mvgatDh1rSm

Brechin bypass has sos phones on the layby, however not emergency layby but standard laybys, laybys are also not set away from the road.

The Brechin bypass is just a bog standard all purpose D2 road, so the laybys are just for general use. They were obviously built before there was a requirement for them to have some sort of physical divider from the main flow of traffic.

The AWPR on the other hand is a special road on which you will not be permitted to stop unless there is an emergency. As there are no hard shoulders they are providing laybys every mile for safe haven provision should the worst happen. Under no circumstances are they to be used for the purpose of picnic stops, tacho breaks or such like.

[orudge]

Although I think we were all aware that the only logical choice for the old A90 to be renumbered to was A92, this Aberdeen City Council document would appear to confirm the renumbering. There's also another brief A92 mention in this signage review document.

[matt-thepie]

Presumably the fastlink will be A90 and the section from Charleston to Cleanhill will be the A956?

[Robert Kilcoyne]

Presumably the fastlink will be A90 and the section from Charleston to Cleanhill will be the A956?

The AA 2018 road atlases are showing this arrangement, with the A956 between Cleanhill and Charlestown and the A92 between Stonehaven and Blackdog both treated as primary routes (coloured green).

[orudge]

The Charleston to Cleanhill section will indeed be A956, and will be a Special Road the same as the A90 from Stonehaven to Blackdog will be.

The A92 will be trunk from Stonehaven to Charleston, then a non-primary road through Aberdeen to Blackdog. The A96 will also lose trunk status at the AWPR boundary (see the sign here for instance).

[GrahameCase]

Latest project update newsletter for AWPR

[iainh124a]

New Charleston bridge partially opened yesterday evening and is open for traffic travelling from existing A90 northbound to A956 Wellington Road:

[iainh124a]

Late October update:

River Dee bridge at Milltimber:
Two sides of bridge nearly joined

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway with bridge over River Dee at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr
Panorama:

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway with bridge over River Dee at Milltimber by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

Culter House Road area:
Looking north:

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway at Culter House Road looking north towards Milltimber Junction by Iain Henderson, on Flickr
Looking south:

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway at Culter House Road looking south towards A93 North Deeside Road by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

Contlaw Road new bridge area:
Looking south:

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway looking south from Contlaw Road bridge towards Milltimber Junction by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway looking south from Contlaw Road bridge towards Milltimber Junction by Iain Henderson, on Flickr
Looking north:

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway looking north from Contlaw Road bridge by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

October 2017: Work on the AWPR (Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route) Aberdeen bypass dual carriageway looking north from Contlaw Road bridge by Iain Henderson, on Flickr

[orudge]

As always, great photos, Iain - thanks for continuing to post them!

Had my first drive along the new A90 northbound - A956 junction today. It’s a shame the junction will no longer be freeflow, but they’ve certainly made the sliproad long and wide, so hopefully it won’t be too much of a bottleneck.

[SuperLez]

As always, great photos, Iain - thanks for continuing to post them!

Had my first drive along the new A90 northbound - A956 junction today. It’s a shame the junction will no longer be freeflow, but they’ve certainly made the sliproad long and wide, so hopefully it won’t be too much of a bottleneck.

Totally love the pictures, but just one little issue. Would it be possible to get pictures from other parts of the road? Would be tremendous to see how the works are progressing away from the Dee also!

As for the Charleston junction, one would expect there to be something of a reduced volume of traffic as much of the northbound stuff will be using the actual bypass. So would I would be surprised if this sliproad caused any significant isssues.

Also the A947 junction has undergone a major makeover. The Parkhill Junction bends are now history! The new layout now flows fairly freely even during the PM peak - no queues along Victoria St/Riverview Dr/Switcher any more. But as the Dyce Drive junction remains something of a pain, perhaps Aberdeen City/Aberdeenshire councils could consider widening the bridge over the Don to enable a possible junction improvement here?

[Truvelo]

Nice to see the lane markings are 1005.1 and not 1004.1 as often overused south of the border.

Those photos tend to show how twisty and hilly the alignment is. I wonder if some of the hills will require crawler lanes eventually.