Campaigners have claimed planned upgrades to Elgin’s rail system have undermined one of the key arguments for building the Western Link Road.
The controversial scheme would connect the town’s Edgar Road retail park directly to the main A96 Inverness-Aberdeen route.
The £10.1million proposal would involve building a new bridge at the bottom of Wittet Drive so the road could run over the railway line.
Supporters of the project argue the town needs the new crossing to ease traffic congestion.
But protesters have pointed to ScotRail’s announcement that by 2019 it intends to automate the “token” system currently in operation at the nearby level crossing.
Jim Wiseman, a leading member of the Designing Streets Action Group set up to fight the link road project, said: “For safety reasons the railway between Elgin and Nairn operates using a system where the train driver has to stop and physically hand over a token to the station master.
“The fact that the system is going to be automated will obviously speed things up hugely.
“Therefore, cars will no longer have to wait anywhere near as long for the gates to come up again. And that’s going to ease congestion in the town.
“We’ve long argued that the link road is a costly waste of money. This is just another reason why it is not needed.”
Campaigners for the route have, however, also cited other potential benefits it would bring.
Stewart Cree, the convener of Moray Council, said recently that better links to the retail park were needed to attract more big name stores to the town, which in turn would entice more shoppers.
The Elgin-Nairn stretch of railway is one of the few left in the UK which still operates the token system, which is designed to prevent trains using single stretches of track from colliding head-on.
The upgrade to the system is part of a wider £170million revamp of the railway line between Inverness and Aberdeen, which was announced by First Minister Alex Salmond earlier in the year.