Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Euan
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Euan »

orudge wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 18:02 There seems to be about one a week at least, sometimes more. I’m not entirely sure why! Supposedly the last one involved people trying to turn left from lane 2 (heading south on the A90 turning onto the A956), colliding with folk trying to go ahead in lane 1.
It is very common for lane 2 on the approach to a roundabout where the 2nd exit is considered the continuation of the main route not to permit access to the 1st exit and I doubt it would be specific to Cleanhill. However there could be a number of drivers who believe that because the new section of the A956 is dual carriageway it must surely be accessible from more than just lane 1 and subsequently end up colliding with vehicles continuing south on the A90 when they try to get to the A956.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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green light wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2019 15:45Another accident on Cleanhill roundabout!

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/new ... oundabout/
Sounds far more trivial than the sort of accident that would normally make the news. I’d suggest any roundabout anywhere might see a prang like that quite regularly - it’s only in the news because the papers now have the idea that Cleanhill is newsworthy and they’re reporting every accident that happens there, no matter how small.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Burns »

Most normal countries would look at the situation and build a GSJ.
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Euan
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Burns wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2019 12:04 Most normal countries would look at the situation and build a GSJ.
Perhaps, although I think the time taken to finally decide that a GSJ is better than an at-grade roundabout will vary depending on where you are. I think Cleanhill will eventually be grade separated, although when that will be I do not know. Maybe if the accidents get worse over a slightly longer period of time there will be serious consideration into improving the junction, otherwise I doubt anything will happen in the short to medium term.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by orudge »

Even just a segregated left turn lane from the southbound A90 onto the A956 would help, although having the main A90 route freeflow would be better (if full freeflow is deemed too expensive - although I don't see why a simple trumpet would have been so difficult!)
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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And a corresponding shortcut for northbound traffic to go from the fastlink to A90(N). There really shouldn't be that much demand for the Fastlink -> A956 movement, except in the case of an incident on the A92.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Truvelo »

These were the two GSJ options considered for Cleanhill. The dumbbell is easy to add south facing slips. For the fork a westbound A956 to Fastlink is simple enough but Fastlink to A956 is a little trickier.

Of the two designs the fork is clearly the more sensible option with no roundabouts at all for errant vehicles to smash into.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Truvelo wrote: Mon Apr 01, 2019 20:09 These were the two GSJ options considered for Cleanhill. The dumbbell is easy to add south facing slips. For the fork a westbound A956 to Fastlink is simple enough but Fastlink to A956 is a little trickier.

Of the two designs the fork is clearly the more sensible option with no roundabouts at all for errant vehicles to smash into.
Apart from at their ends, neither the AWPR A956 nor the AWPR A90 south of Cleanhill have any junctions on them, so a flyover between the A90 north of Cleanhill and the A956 restricting access to the A956 from the south would not have resulted in any disadvantaged local access. I dare say the flyover option would have been better than the dumbbell option, and certainly better than an at-grade roundabout.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by Ben302 »

I had the opportunity last weekend to drive the AWPR whilst visiting family in Aberdeen and attending the Brewdog agm at the soon to be closed AECC. What struck me was the TOTSO at either end. Why no freeflow? The road itself is a very good bit of road, handy for getting to and from the airport to various suburbs of Aberdeen without going anywhere near the centre or Anderson Drive. The A90 now is D2 all the way to Ellon which came in handy for a side trip to Peterhead and Fraserburgh. Overall quite impressed with it all now after the years of roadworks that have blighted the airport runs there
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Ben302 wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2019 20:29 What struck me was the TOTSO at either end. Why no freeflow?
I think the reason for the bypass not having freeflow at either end may be down to much of the traffic using the A90 heading for Aberdeen rather than somewhere beyond Aberdeen and hence they would probably not want to have to turn off of the road to continue to Aberdeen. There are numerous examples of bypasses which TOTSO away from the "natural" route of the road at either end of the town that is bypassed.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Ben302 wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2019 20:29 I had the opportunity last weekend to drive the AWPR whilst visiting family in Aberdeen and attending the Brewdog agm at the soon to be closed AECC. What struck me was the TOTSO at either end. Why no freeflow? The road itself is a very good bit of road, handy for getting to and from the airport to various suburbs of Aberdeen without going anywhere near the centre or Anderson Drive. The A90 now is D2 all the way to Ellon which came in handy for a side trip to Peterhead and Fraserburgh. Overall quite impressed with it all now after the years of roadworks that have blighted the airport runs there
It helps if you think of the AWPR as an outer ring road rather than a by-pass. The expectation is that more traffic approaching the Abredeen area on the A90 will be heading to Aberdeen rather than past it or to its outer suburbs on another radial. Not all of it, not by a long shot (or else they wouldn't have built the Fastlink), but enough that the major flow at Stonehaven is towards the city centre. When you compare the size of Aberdeen with the collective size of all destinations beyond it, that isn't really surprising. It also goes some way to explaining the poor decision to signpost nothing further afield than Aberdeen (N) and Aberdeen (S) along the AWPR – it is intended principally as a way of getting people to other parts of Aberdeen.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

Post by orudge »

I guess you're meant to pay attention to this sign if you're heading north and want the A93/A944/A947.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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orudge wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:59 I guess you're meant to pay attention to this sign if you're heading north and want the A93/A944/A947.
That looks so ugly, and why does it have "A90" at the bottom corner?
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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paully wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:32
orudge wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:59 I guess you're meant to pay attention to this sign if you're heading north and want the A93/A944/A947.
That looks so ugly, and why does it have "A90" at the bottom corner?
I wonder whether "A90" has been placed to the side of the sign rather than in the centre as with the rest of the text to try and reduce the importance of the road number. The bypass is still fairly new and a lot of people may still only regard it as the AWPR without an identifying number and will still mistakenly associate the A90 with what is now the A92 between Blackdog and Stonehaven.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Euan wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 23:32
paully wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:32
orudge wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:59 I guess you're meant to pay attention to this sign if you're heading north and want the A93/A944/A947.
That looks so ugly, and why does it have "A90" at the bottom corner?
I wonder whether "A90" has been placed to the side of the sign rather than in the centre as with the rest of the text to try and reduce the importance of the road number. The bypass is still fairly new and a lot of people may still only regard it as the AWPR without an identifying number and will still mistakenly associate the A90 with what is now the A92 between Blackdog and Stonehaven.
I wouldn’t credit the designer with that much thought. There’s barely a thing about it that has been correctly done, and the completion of a sentence with a final word that’s placed outside the panel that contains the rest of the sentence is so appallingly dumb I’m not sure I can put into words just how misguided it is.

Plus, “A90” is the point of the sign. It’s telling you that’s what you need to follow. Why reduce its importance when it’s the exact thing you want everyone bound for all those places to look out for?
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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orudge wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:59this sign
Chris5156 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 00:10
Euan wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 23:32
paully wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:32That looks so ugly, and why does it have "A90" at the bottom corner?
I wonder whether "A90" has been placed to the side of the sign rather than in the centre as with the rest of the text to try and reduce the importance of the road number. The bypass is still fairly new and a lot of people may still only regard it as the AWPR without an identifying number and will still mistakenly associate the A90 with what is now the A92 between Blackdog and Stonehaven.
I wouldn’t credit the designer with that much thought. There’s barely a thing about it that has been correctly done, and the completion of a sentence with a final word that’s placed outside the panel that contains the rest of the sentence is so appallingly dumb I’m not sure I can put into words just how misguided it is.

Plus, “A90” is the point of the sign. It’s telling you that’s what you need to follow. Why reduce its importance when it’s the exact thing you want everyone bound for all those places to look out for?
I think the designer has grown up on PowerPoint presentations, where the slides are designed to look 'edgy' by having the title at the bottom and on one side; and this is not to mention the pointlessly centralised script!
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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All of the AWPR signs have been designed by someone with zero sign skills.

The consultancy involved has no quality control processes by the looks of it yet still gets mega projects...
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Also Cleanhill having a roundabout screams future service area or business park... just what you want.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Bryn666 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 09:05 Also Cleanhill having a roundabout screams future service area or business park... just what you want.
I'm sure there could be plenty of job opportunities for the wider area from a business park, but it would clearly be foolish to build one at Cleanhill with the number of incidents at the roundabout. I think it would work out much better if it were to be established next to a different junction such as the A944 interchange or at Craibstone with reasonable access.
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Re: Aberdeen Bypass Route Announced

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Euan wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 22:58
Bryn666 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 09:05 Also Cleanhill having a roundabout screams future service area or business park... just what you want.
I'm sure there could be plenty of job opportunities for the wider area from a business park, but it would clearly be foolish to build one at Cleanhill with the number of incidents at the roundabout. I think it would work out much better if it were to be established next to a different junction such as the A944 interchange or at Craibstone with reasonable access.
They'll just put a load of traffic lights on it, and turn it into Hermiston Gait Mk2.
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