More than 1,000 jobs will be created when work on the Aberdeen bypass gets underway, Infrastructure Secretary Keith Brown has announced.
Describing the £550million project to create the long-awaited Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) and dual the Balmedie to Tipperty stretch of the A90 Aberdeen to Peterhead road as a “mammoth undertaking”, Mr Brown said 2015 would be an “exciting year” for motorists in the north-east.
In November, it was announced the project would be completed six months ahead of schedule, meaning it would be open to traffic in winter 2017.
And now Mr Brown has said consortium Connect Roads, now known as Aberdeen Roads Ltd, is ready to start work on the 36-mile project in the new year.
He said it was long overdue.
“Of course this kind of investment should have been carried out decades ago when it became apparent that the oil boom would create the kinds of pressures we now see on the roads in and around Aberdeen on a daily basis,” he said.
“We recognised this and the fact Aberdeen is a major driver for the Scottish economy. So we have made the project one of our key priorities and have pressed hard to ensure the new road is delivered as early as possible.”
The scheme will include 12 junctions, almost 14 miles of slip roads, two crossings across the rivers Don and Dee, a bridge over the Aberdeen-Inverness railway, four pipeline crossings and three wildlife bridges.
The Scottish Government claims it will deliver £6billion investment and 14,000 jobs to the north-east over the next 30 years.
Mr Brown said there was much to look forward to in 2015.
“Aberdeen Roads Limited is now in a position to mobilise, and the public will start to see significant activity right across the north-east as its 1,000-strong workforce and plant is moved into place,” he said.
“Construction managers, foremen, site engineers, quantity surveyors, earthwork gangers, joiners, scaffolders, electricians, machine operators will all descend on the project.
“Earthworks will start to shape the new road and preparations made for the first sections of tarmac to be laid.
“2015 promises to be exciting year for road users in Aberdeen. The essential preparations are now complete and work on this long-awaited road improvement for Aberdeen and the north-east is on the verge of being well and truly under way.
“Transport in the north-east will soon never be the same again.”