The first of three bus gates has appeared in Aberdeen city centre.
Work is under way to create a new bus priority route in the Granite City, aiming to reduce travel times and minimise general traffic.
Bus gates are being installed at three key roads in the city centre, including Bridge Street, Guild Street and Market Street.
Once the bus gates are in place all cars – apart from taxis – will be banned from going through them, with £60 fines issued to the rulebreakers.
They will be enforced by cameras.
Where is the new bus gate?
The first bus gate has been installed on Market Street, between Hadden Street and Union Street.
This means that drivers turning onto Market Street from Guild Street will not be able to access Union Street – instead being diverted via Hadden Street.
The road has been marked off and the new signs are already in place.
However, an Aberdeen City Council spokesman confirmed fines will not be handed out to drivers using the new bus gate until the other two are completed.
What about the other bus gates?
The Bridge Street bus gate will be just north of the junction with Wapping Street — where you turn down Bridge Street towards Union Square, next to the former Debenhams building.
For drivers wanting to travel from South College Street to Union Street, it means the next best route would be via Crown Street.
The new Guild Street bus gate is expected to be the most complicated of them all for drivers navigating the city.
Located at the junction with Market Street it will stop any cars from turning onto Guild Street, and any cars travelling westbound from Trinity Quay onto Guild Street which was shut off to all traffic ahead of these works just before Christmas 2022.
There is another element to this bus gate, in that it will also prevent any cars going east along Guild Street from its junction with Stirling Street.
Cars wanting to turn around and avoid getting a fine will instead be able to go up Stirling Street, turn right, and then down along Exchange Street before being permitted to travel west along Guild Street.
When will the restrictions be put in place?
The two bus gates are expected to take two to three weeks, weather depending.
For anyone navigating the city centre, this means the bus gates will only be operational once they are all completed – and no one caught driving on them will be fined just yet.
There is no exact date on when the new measures will be in force, but it looks like they will be in action before September.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “The Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) came into operation on August 1. As the various new lining and signing changes are implemented, the new ETRO is supported.
“Enforcement of the measures will not commence until after completion of all the signing which is anticipated to be within the next two to three weeks, weather permitting.”
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