Multimillion-pound proposals to improve safety on a notorious north-east road have been unveiled.
Nine people have been killed and more than 40 others seriously injured on the A947 Aberdeen to Banff road since 2010.
Now a report outlining a raft of measures – such as dualling sections, or all, of the route, and building bypasses around three towns – has been drawn up, and will go before councillors next week.
And despite the huge cost of the proposals, last night road safety campaigners said no price was too great if they saved lives.
The draft improvement strategy has been drawn up after Aberdeenshire Council launched a public consultation last year to find ways to make the 38-mile stretch of road safer for the thousands of people who travel on it each day.
It details 20 specific options to reduce A947 casualties over the next two decades.
Among the ideas tabled include dualling the road between Dyce and Newmachar for £38million, between Dyce and Oldmeldrum for £154million – or even dualling the entire route for a bill of £514million.
The report, which was drawn up Aecom, also proposes building bypass roads around the towns of Turriff, Newmachar and Oldmeldrum to keep HGVs and speeding traffic away from busy pedestrian areas.
Last night the proposals were praised by road safety campaigners, who called on the council to put the theory into practice.
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