The £50m Haudagain Improvement Project hasn’t made a difference, according to the vast majority of our readers who took part in a poll.
Last month, more than 180ft of new carriageway was officially opened, taking vehicles between the A92 North Anderson Drive and the A96 Auchmill road, bypassing the Haudagain roundabout.
Transport minister Jenny Gilruth said the new route is intended to “help tackle the congestion caused by the traffic bottleneck at the Haudagain roundabout and deliver significant benefits, including improving journey times for road users and public transport”.
However, when we asked our readers in a poll if they think the new infrastructure in the area made a difference one week after it officially opened on May 16, most of them said no.
In total, 1,256 people took part in our poll.
And 997 of them don’t think the end product after years of disruption and £50 million spent has made a difference.
Why do people not think it was worth it?
After we published our poll last week, many readers commented on social media that they think it hasn’t improved journey times through the area.
Others said they would have preferred the cash being spent on dualling the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness route.
But there were a significant number of readers who said they think it’s improved their commutes, and it will be worthwhile in the long-term.
And it is the long-term that Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government will be looking at when it comes to determining if the Haudagain Improvement Project was a success or not.
How will Transport Scotland measure if the Haudagain works have made a difference?
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said that it will take at least one year before any work is done to assess the impact the Haudagain project has had in Aberdeen.
A “detailed evaluation” will be taken three years after the opening date.
It will be evaluated against the following criteria:
- Environment
- Safety
- Economy
- Integration
- Accessibility and Social Inclusion
- Costs to Government
- Value for Money
Transport Scotland will be considering the impact of the scheme’s completion on traffic volumes and travel times.
The assessment work will look at the effects of the work by comparing what conditions were like before and after the new roads opened in the immediate vicinity of the Haudagain.
A spokesman said: “The project aims to assist in reducing traffic congestion and improving journey time reliability.
“The initial stage of the evaluation of the scheme will take place one year after opening, and will commence in quarter one of 2023/24 with reports published in the following months.
“A further, detailed evaluation is scheduled to be undertaken three years after opening, to be reported on thereafter”.
Conversation