A month of road closures is poised to begin in Aberdeen as the city’s £40million internet upgrade is being delivered at pace.
CityFibre crews will be digging up streets throughout June to lay new ducts that will help carry faster connection speeds.
The work is part of the digital transformation in Aberdeen to extend its full fibre network to banish buffering for businesses and residents.
Hopes road closures will bring ‘minimal disruption’ to Aberdeen
The month of road closures will help to bring new full fibre internet connections to the Tillydrone, Seaton, Sheddocksly, Mastrick and Bridge of Don areas of Aberdeen.
Crews will close off short sections of each street at a time before moving to another part of the road.
Contractors are only expecting to spend up to two days in the one location before moving to another spot.
Work began on the upgrade in Aberdeen in July 2018 with services already live for residents in Woodside, Garthdee, Ferryhill, Northfield, Hilton and Torry among other parts of the city.
The massive project is expected to continue for up to another 18 months while teams assess gaps in the network.
Allan McEwan, CityFibre’s city manager for Aberdeen, said: “The rollout is progressing really well, we’ve covered quite a chunk of the city.
“We’re currently building in parts of Rosemount, Sheddocksly, Mastrick, Seaton, Tillydrone and Woodside, not all over those areas, but we’ve got teams there.
“It’s a fairly swift build process. Sometimes people can be alarmed by road closures but we’re usually only there for a week, then the infrastructure should benefit generations to come.”
Is your street affected by the road closures?
What is the CityFibre internet project all about?
The CityFibre project has been funded by the Aberdeen City Region Deal, which was backed by the Scottish and UK governments and signed in 2016.
The work is bringing full fibre connections to individual properties, replacing predominantly copper cables from street cabinets that have been there for generations.
Improvements are expected to bring gigabit connection speeds.
Aberdeen City Council leader Jenny Laing has previously said the project will “change the lives” of residents while allowing businesses to “access new ways of working”.
CityFibre is the firm that installs the new technology with customers entering contracts with individual service providers.
Mr McEwan said: “It’s never been so important to have good connection speeds with so many people working from home. There’s been a huge spike in demand.”
Other road closures in Aberdeen to coincide with internet project
Meanwhile, the road closures to bring faster internet connections to Aberdeen are also coinciding with other works that could bring disruption to residents.
Sections of Fernhill Drive in Mastrick will be closed from the Lang Stracht junction until June 20 while crews install a new heating duct.
Scottish Water are also planning works on Northcote Road in Braeside, Pennan Road in Tillydrone, at Regent Quay next to the harbour and at St Fittick’s Road in Balnagask.
Most of the closures for water works are only expected to last a day or two.
