Council chooses preferred option for Haudagain roundabout improvements
01/07/08
Aberdeen City Council has decided on its preferred option for cutting traffic congestion at the Haudagain roundabout.
The council’s decision to choose option five – the least expensive and the most effective of the three options considered – will now go to the Scottish Government. The final decision about the future development of the busy junction will be taken at Holyrood.
Details of the three options to be considered were displayed at the council’s information centre The Point, and consultations were held with a series of public drop-in sessions in community centres near the roundabout.
The public sessions were part of the on-going assessment of ways of improving traffic flows through the busy A90/A96 junction, which suffers from heavy traffic movements between the west and south.
The work was taken forward by Aberdeen City Council, the regional transport partnership Nestrans and the national transport agency Transport Scotland.
The option selected by the council is for the creation of a new signal-controlled dual carriageway link road connecting North Anderson Drive and Auchmill Road to provide a new route for traffic; the existing roundabout would be retained.
The alternatives looked at involved:
• the creation of a new link road, as above; alteration of the existing roundabout to form a signalised junction; realignment of the Mugiemoss Road railway bridge; upgrading Mugiemoss Road to a dual carriageway between Haudagain and the Persley Bridge/Mugiemoss Road roundabout;
• the creation of an enlarged Haudagain roundabout slightly west of the existing roundabout; build a new Mugiemoss Road railway bridge; realign and dual Mugiemoss Road from Haudagain to the Persley Bridge/Mugiemoss Road roundabout; no North Anderson Drive/Auchmill Road link road.
All three options would need a 3rd Don Crossing to be in place as an integral part of the solution.
The selected option will provide the greatest benefit over a 15-year assessment period, and will cost just over half what it would cost to construct the alternatives. It will also be significantly easier to build, and will cause fewer traffic delays during construction than the rejected options.
It includes the construction of a link road through the Middlefield area, which will involve the demolition of a considerable number of residential city council properties, and the rehousing of tenants. This is consistent with the Middlefield Regeneration Master Plan.
The public consultations were held in conjunction with parallel consultations on proposals for the Middlefield Regeneration Masterplan and resulted in a good response from the public and a large number of suggestions for improvement.
Links to all the information about the Haudagain options can be found on the city council’s website at www.aberdeencity.gov.uk.
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.
