Motorists on the north-east’s busiest road will face nine weeks of delays beginning next month as long-awaited repairs are made.
Transport Scotland has planned £750,000 worth of maintenances work on Cowie Bridge on the A90 Aberdeen-Dundee road.
The stretch near Stonehaven has been scarred with potholes in recent years and to date only temporary repairs have been made.
Bear Scotland will now re-waterproof and resurface the road on the bridge as well as repairing and upgrade concrete, kerbs and safety barriers.
A around-the-clock contraflow will be enforced on the dual carriageway from Saturday August 10.
North-east schools, and the heavier traffic associated with them, return just under two weeks into the nine-week block of work.
Bear Scotland predicts the works will add around 20 minutes to the average peak time journey – but has warned it could be longer at particularly busy times.
Work will begin on the northbound carriageway first, meaning two-way, single-lane traffic on the southbound side.
Bear Scotland plans to switch traffic to the opposite side in mid-September.
The major work had been scheduled to take place last June but was put off to “minimise any inconvenience” caused by the over-running construction of the AWPR bypass.
BEAR Scotland’s Andy Thompson said: “The road surface has been particularly badly damaged following the adverse weather conditions at the start of the year and although teams have completed temporary repairs this project will allow us to permanently repair the road.
“We’ve planned these works to be carried out under a contraflow system to keep everyone safe during the project.
“Our teams will do all they can to carry out the work as quickly and safely as possible.
“We thank motorists for their patience in advance.”