Specialist equipment is being brought to the north-east to ensure some of the region’s oldest bridges are safe and not in any urgent need of repair.
Aberdeenshire Council will employ an under bridge unit to take a closer look at various structures across the region.
Motorists are being warned of some disruption near Banff, Huntly, Aboyne, Banchory and Stonehaven as a result.
The machinery lowers a platform beneath the side of the historic bridges to allow staff to carry out detailed condition inspections of the underside of the crossing.
But it will mean temporary traffic lights and even some road closures while the work is carried out during the hours of daylight.
A spokesman for the local authority claimed that, without the specialist kit, the work would be “very difficult or almost impossible” to do.
The 240-year-old Banff Bridge will be the first to be inspected by the equipment on Monday.
Traffic lights will be in place on the crossing on the A98 Banff-Macduff road between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
The following morning, Bogie Bridge in Huntly on the A97 road through the town will be looked at, again imposing traffic lights.
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Similar work will force the closure of the town’s Gibston Bridge that afternoon.
On Wednesday morning, the Bridge o’ Ess on the B976 Aboyne-Ballater road will shut for inspection, before the workers move on to the Dee Bridge on the B974 in Banchory and Glaslaw Bridge, near Dunnottar Woods in Stonehaven.
Diversion routes will be in place during closures, but pedestrian and cyclist access will be maintained when possible.
The work has been planned for the school summer holidays to minimise disruption.
The council’s infrastructure services chairman Peter Argyle said: “It can be very tricky to do much more than a visual inspection of some of our bridges due to their height or location.
“This specialist unit will allow the team to get the access they need to conduct a full inspection of the structures, allowing them to determine if any maintenance or repairs are required and helping us to take early action if required.”
