Delays at Aberdeen’s infamous Haudagain roundabout will almost be halved when a new bypass of the junction is finally completed, it was claimed yesterday.
Transport chiefs said the amount of time wasted in gridlock at the pinch-point would be slashed by up to 47% when the new dual carriageway has been built.
However, several local residents and business-owners questioned the impact of the plans, saying: “I’ll believe it when I see it”.
It also emerged yesterday that the cost of the scheme continues to spiral, with official estimates having risen from £26million to £30million since November.
The bill to taxpayers is now more than double the £14.5million initially estimated in 2007.
Transport Scotland unveiled detailed designs for the long-awaited project at a public exhibition being held in Middlefield yesterday and today.
Scottish Government minister Derek Mackay revealed that the dual carriageway linking North Anderson Drive and Auchmill Road would take two years to build, with work scheduled to start when the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route is completed at the end of 2017.
A total of 127 homes will be bulldozed to make way for the scheme, although 54 are already empty and only seven are not already owned by the council.
Affected residents received letters last week confirming that their homes were on the route of the new road.
Samantha Jenkins, a 42-year-old mother-of-two, is one of the tenants who will have move.
“It’s a bit confusing at the moment,” she told the Press and Journal while watching a mocked-up video of the road going through her front garden yesterday.
“My living room is right next to the road. Just looking at it is strange.
“It has been on the cards for a few years, but I only moved here four years ago and I was quite surprised they put me here.
“Hopefully I should hear more from the council soon.”
The Scottish Government is working with Aberdeen City Council to regenerate the area, and hope to create a new “green lung”, with two new play parks, landscaped trees and paths.
Detailed proposals are still to be brought forward for the housing in the “triangle” of land between the roads, with a supermarket having previously been mooted.
Objectors and supporters have until August 7 to make their views known about the road plans.
Transport Scotland anticipates that a public inquiry may be required, but that it can be completed before the scheduled start of construction at the end of 2017.
Dozens of residents attended the exhibition in the Provost Henry E Rae Community Centre on Manor Avenue yesterday.
Several raised concerns about delaying the work until after the city bypass has been completed and whether it would resolve the congestion problems, highlighting the four pedestrian crossings on the new dual carriageway.
“The principal reason I think it won’t work is that there’s far too many pedestrian crossings and it will hold the traffic up,” said John Martin, a 66-year-old retired oil industry worker who lives by Anderson Drive on King’s Gate.
However, new traffic modelling from Transport Scotland shows that by 2033 journey times would be 47% lower than if no action was taken, even with the impact of the AWPR and third Don crossing factored in.
It would also be 30% lower than the current rate in the mornings, and 46% lower than the amount of time currently taken up in the afternoon and evening.
Mark McDonald, Aberdeen Donside MSP, said: “The plans for the new road demonstrate the continued commitment from the Scottish Government to address the difficulties at the Haudagain Roundabout, I hope that residents will take the opportunity to view the plans and offer their feedback on them.
“It is now imperative that Aberdeen City Council bring forward their proposals for the triangle of land that will be left bound by the three major roads.
“The residents who occupy the properties in this area deserve to have some certainty regarding their future.”