The Scottish Government has been urged to carry out a feasibility study into the merits of upgrading a stretch of the north-east’s busiest road to dual carriageway.
Conservative MSP Nanette Milne said the time had come to make substantial improvements to the Peterhead-Ellon stretch of the A90.
The north-east politician claimed it was “perhaps the last key trunk road in Scotland needing upgrading”.
Mrs Milne has tabled a series of parliamentary questions at Holyrood challenging Transport Minister Keith Brown on the issue.
Tory MEP Ian Duncan has written to the European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc to asked if funding can be accessed to pay for the 14-mile project which would cost about £140million.
He wants the north-east region included in the £21billion TEN-T Connecting Europe’ programme which currently only extends to projects as far north as Edinburgh.
“Peterhead is of the utmost importance to the North Sea oil and gas industry and if we are to realise its potential we need to ensure it is properly connected,” he added.
Mr Brown said recently he recognised the importance of the A90 north of Ellon but stopped short of giving a commitment to upgrade it to dual carriageway.
He said the Scottish Government’s “current focus” was on delivering the Aberdeen bypass and upgrading the route between Balmedie to Tipperty by 2018.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said regional transport partnership Nestrans was carrying out a Energetica Corridor – All Modes Study which aims to examine options to improve connections from Fraserburgh and Peterhead to Aberdeen.
But Mrs Milne said the research was a wider examination of transport connections, not looking at A90 dualling costs.
She said the government must spell out what assessment it has made of the economic benefits to communities along the route to Peterhead, Europe’s biggest white-fish port.
“With many road projects taking place it is vital that pressure is put on the SNP to provide a timescale and resources so that the A90 does not become Scotland’s forgotten road,” she added.
“It must be given priority for future infrastructure funding and I would hope that the transport minister will look at early feasibility works to start to cost the upgrading of the road to get the project moving forward.”