Aberdeenshire Council calls for Laurencekirk flyover

Date: 21/3/2013

Aberdeenshire Council and the North-East's regional transport partnership have called for substantial safety improvements to be made to a notorious accident blackspot, the Scotsman reports.

The campaign, which was taken to the Scottish Parliament yesterday (March 20th), proposes the construction of a flyover at Laurencekirk where the A937 crosses the A90 Aberdeen to Dundee dual carriageway.

Armed with a video to demonstrate the dangers drivers currently face at the junction, Derick Murray, the Director of Nestrans, and Ewan Wallace, the Head of Transportation at Aberdeenshire Council, were due to meet members of the Scottish Parliament's Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee.

The Committee is said to have already been examining the case for the flyover, with MSP for Angus North and Mearns Nigel Don having filmed the footage of the road to highlight how motorists would benefit from significant improvement work.

"To me the case for a flyover at this junction is absolutely clear," Mr Don explained.

"For the 20 miles between Brechin and Stonehaven there are no flyovers or underpasses which allow vehicles to cross this busy road.

"If you have a heavy vehicle, a long vehicle or a slow vehicle, there is no alternative route across the A90 - and these factors add up to making this an extremely dangerous stretch of the road."

And Mr Murray added that a suitable transport solution would improve the local network and properly address the traffic levels which the Laurencekirk area is expected to see in the future.

"A grade separated junction would maintain access to the A90 and address all current traffic issues at this location which has been the subject of an ongoing campaign for funding for more than a decade," he said.

However, one of the issues over the potential construction of a flyover is where the funding would come from, although Mr Don claims that the problem has to be solved by Transport Scotland if safety at the junction is to be improved.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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