Campaigners fear that a scheme to widen a busy Elgin route is paving the way for the town’s controversial link road.
Work is scheduled to begin on Monday at Sandy Road, which runs from the golf club roundabout in the direction of the retail park.
Protestors claim the work on Sandy Road – allied to the link road proposals – will see increasing amounts of traffic using residential streets all around the area.
Caroline Webster is one of the founders of the Designing Streets Action Group, which was set up to campaign against the proposed £8.5million link road.
She said: “When you look at the bigger picture, it appears that this work at Sandy Road is another stage in allowing traffic to use an alternative to the A96 Inverness-Aberdeen main road in order to travel through the town.
“Springfield Properties own the grassland by the side of Sandy Road and they are to be the ones who will be carrying out the work.
“However, it was the council that made it a condition that the road had to be widened when it granted planning permission for Springfield to built houses near the golf course.”
About a dozen trees will be felled during the work at Sandy Road, which is scheduled to last several weeks.
The hotly-debated proposed link road will connect the A96 directly to the retail park on Edgar Road.
Between Edgar Road and Sandy Road lies Glen Moray Drive, which is also boarded by grassland and has potential to be widened.
The link road proposal has strongly divided opinion, with two large marches having already been staged by opponents in the town.
After the detailed plans for it were put up on the council’s website, more than 800 responses were received from members of the public.
Given such large amounts of interest, a public hearing is expected to take place later in the summer, which will decide whether the route will receive planning permission.