Tourists on their way to Balmoral Castle are being forced to make a two-hour detour due to roadworks.
Aberdeenshire Council shut a small section of the A939 Strathdon to Tomintoul road for essential repairs earlier this week.
The busy road closed between Corgarff and the Lecht on Monday, as the sections requiring repair are narrow and have tight corners.
But although the local authority has tried to time the work to avoid the main tourist season, some visitors have been caught out – leaving them with no choice but to follow the lengthy diversion towards Huntly, Dufftown and Tomintoul.
Work includes resurfacing sections, and widening a tight bend.
The council plans to reopen the route this weekend – although traffic lights will be in place – before it closes again on Monday between 9am-4pm each day until July 1.
Gary Marsden, visitor enterprise manager at Balmoral Castle, acknowledged the work needed to be carried out and said staff were trying to keep visitors informed.
“Some people have had to take the longer route to reach us, but the road will be open again during the weekend,” he said.
“Everyone is working together to make the inconvenience for people as small as possible and it is unfortunate that some of our visitors have been caught off guard.
“And as much as it can be annoying to have a road closed, the amount of pot holes on the road was also very annoying.”
There have also been reports that some motorists are ignoring the closure signs.
After visiting the site yesterday, Councillor Geva Blackett said: “I was absolutely mortified at the number of cars and motorbikes that are completely ignoring the road closed sign and are going through.
“There have been two occasions this week where workers have not only been verbally abused, but one of the work force was hit and in another case one had their foot run over.
“It is so dangerous, never mind illegal for drivers to be on the route, there are workers in the middle of the road who are working extremely hard to get the route re-opened as soon as possible.”
Philip McKay, the local authority’s head of roads services, said the route would be reopened as soon as possible.
He added: “The closure of this route, whenever it takes place, will cause inconvenience and delays, but we know it’s important to keep it open as much as possible for the rest of the year and in a good condition.
“We apologise for any inconvenience, but we will do everything possible to ensure that repairs are carried out in the shortest possible timescale. We appreciate that the closure adds considerably to journey times between Speyside and Deeside/Donside, but this is an unfortunate consequence of roads in remote areas.”
