Images of the new £750million Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) are quite a common sight – but it’s unlikely you’ve seen any quite like this.
Thanks to an amateur photographer with a keen interest in drones, we have been given a glimpse of how much progress has been made on this massive project.
Martin Slowey from Milltimber chose the AWPR as his subject because of its importance to the area. And he captured this video, which covers the area just west of Portlethen, looking south in the direction of Stonehaven, on his way to work.
The energy director from Nugensis Oil & Gas said: “The AWPR is changing the landscape forever, and I thought it would be great to document the progress for nostalgic reasons.
“My father had a civils/earthworks business for over 30 years. He’s been retired from the business for a long time now, but I knew he would enjoy seeing the footage of the AWPR progress.”
He believes local people only see the disruption to their daily lives, and don’t get a chance to survey the wider picture.
As he declared: “Seeing the hard surface go down at Rothnick demonstrates real progress in my eyes.”
Aberdeen City Council leader, Jenny Laing, added: “The drone footage will put an interesting perspective on the Milltimber section of the AWPR/B-T project and I’m sure people will be keen to see it.
“The AWPR is one of several major projects worth a total of £560million which the City Council has invested in, and is part of one of the biggest transformations the city has had.”
Her Aberdeenshire Council counterpart, Richard Thomson, added: “People have been waiting for this road for decades and I think, since the earth-moving vehicles came on site, people can really see the scale of this project.
“It’s going to transform life in the north-east.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said a tremendous amount of work had gone into the construction so far and this was clear to see at points along the route.
He added: “These images show parts of the site that most people don’t get to see, so we are sure they will be impressed by the scale of the works undertaken.
“The Craibstone and Dyce Drive Junctions opened to traffic just a few weeks ago and they are already providing early benefits including improved road safety and better journey time reliability, enhancing travel in the local area.”