POLL: Four years on from full AWPR opening, was it worth it?

By Kieran Beattie

February 19 2023, 6:00 am

The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) as it crosses the River Dee. The road has been open for four years today, but do you think it's been a worthwhile development for the region? Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson, February 2023.

On February 19, 2019, the final section of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) opened to traffic, bringing an end to decades of waiting and planning for a bypass around the city.

It was designed to drastically reduce congestion in the Granite City, and improve traffic flow throughout the north-east in general.

The contract for the new road was first awarded in 2014, and the initial price tag for the project was £745 million — however, the true final cost could end up being more than £1 billion.

The AWPR extends for 36 miles, and completely cuts out Aberdeen for those travelling north and south through eastern Aberdeenshire. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson, February 2023.

On the grand opening day, the then-transport minister Michael Matheson said it would be a “transformational project” for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and would be a “long-term benefit of the people and businesses of the north-east and Scotland as a whole.”

Today, four years on from full opening of the entire 36-mile route of the AWPR and the Balmedie to Tipperty road, we want to see if our readers think the new road was worthwhile or not.

Do you think the AWPR was worth it in the end? Take part in our poll here:

The long and winding road to the grand opening of the AWPR

Construction and planning to create the AWPR took many years. Image: DC Thomson.

Talks of building a bypass around the city of Aberdeen go back around 70 years.

After years of inquiry and debate about where the bypass should be built, the creation of the AWPR was finally approved in 2009 by the Scottish Government.

Aberdeen Roads Limited was named as the winning bidder at the end of 2014.

This consortium was included the companies Balfour Beatty, Carillion, and Galliford Try.

Nicola Sturgeon, and the leaders of both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils attended the official ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction at Balmedie in February 2015.

Spring 2018 was meant to be the original completion date for the new road network in its entirety, however, this date was missed.

Problems posed by weather chaos like Storm Frank and the collapse of Carillion in January 2018 resulted in all sorts of setbacks for the project.

The spring opening date was pushed back to autumn 2018.

By June that year, the very first section of four miles between Parkhill and Blackdog finally opened to the public.

The AWPR bridge over the River Dee when it was still under construction. Image: DC Thomson.

This was followed by the opening of the Balmedie to Tipperty section that August, and the Craibstone to Charleston and Stonehaven length opening in December 2018.

The final section, from Craibstone to Parkhill, was opened to traffic on Tuesday, February 19, 2019.