An Aberdeenshire councillor driving a campaign to dual the A90 north of Ellon has warned motorists that traffic near the town could soon come to a standstill at peak times.
Gillian Owen, who represents Ellon, has raised concerns that the traffic bottleneck at Balmedie where the Aberdeen to Peterhead road reduces to one lane northbound could move north to the town.
She said dualling the Balmedie as part of the Aberdeen bypass project, which is due for completion in 2018, will displace the problem.
Mrs Owen, who has led the Why Stop at Ellon campaign, met Conservative MEP Ian Duncan to share her concerns.
She said: “Currently at peak times there are issues at Balmedie where a bottleneck is created because of the lane reduction.
“Once the dualling from Balmedie to Tipperty is complete the problem will be moved to here in Ellon.
“The campaign Why Stop at Ellon was started to make sure that it does not take 40 years to dual through to Peterhead.”
The grassroots social media campaign has been supported by thousands of people online and several petitions have been launched.
Mrs Owen continued: “We have to ensure that the relevant authorities understand the real need for this section of the A90 to be dualled, it will also be good to highlight the need for dualling to Fraserburgh too.”
She added that meetings are being held with local businesses and industry representatives to “highlight the plight” of drivers on the A90.
Mr Duncan said: “Seeing the problem at first hand, it is clear that this issue is only going to get worse particularly for the residents of Ellon.
“I intend to see what can be achieved to alleviate the problem and I will be having further meetings with our European partners to see what can be done next”.
Mr Duncan last month claimed European funding could be secured to pay to upgrade the route north of Ellon.
He was speaking after a meeting with Professor Péter Balázs, who is coordinating a continent-wide transport infrastructure project.