The imminent removal of the straight-ahead lane onto Guild Street in Aberdeen City Centre has prompted a great deal of anger already.
On Monday, work will begin to take away the lane which allows motorists to travel from Trinity Quay south-west onto Guild Street.
Vehicles will no longer be able to use the route from that date.
The changes are being made to create a bus priority route as part of a raft of road changes.
They also include three more bus gates being installed — at the top of Market Street, the east side of Guild Street, and the top of Bridge Street.
Aberdeen City Council aims to reduce the amount of traffic going through the area by stopping the public using Bridge Street, Guild Street (east of Wapping Street) and Market Street (north of Guild Street) as through-routes.
This new bus priority route was agreed at a full meeting of the council in June this year.
But, the changes are being brought about through what is called an “experimental traffic regulation order”, a method which Transport Scotland claims is “very rarely used”.
‘Shambles’ and ‘another big mess’: Public fury over Guild Street changes
Last month we revealed the council launched the roads experiment with no further public consultation, after allowing only a few select organisations to have their say, including the emergency services.
At the time, a spokeswoman said “public engagement will commence once the scheme has been brought into operation”.
But before the work to install the Guild Street changes has even begun, the public have voiced their frustration in response to the council’s social media posts about the Guild Street alterations.
Another big mess. The list is endless with this council.
— Millie Willer (@MillieWiller) December 12, 2022
Many are concerned about the impact it could have on shopping, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.
One responder to the council’s Facebook post about the plans said: “This is going to make it very difficult to get into the train station/College Street parking.
“Christmas shopping, and College Street still has road works, feels like a strange decision to do this now.”
Another added: “Already put off going into Aberdeen with silly road closures and ridiculous one way or closed-off streets… not great timing either on the run-up to Christmas.
“Who thinks this through?”
You need to give your heads a wobble – week before Christmas to start such major works around an area near “the shops” and a main route south out of the city ! Shambles
— Craig Main 🏴 (@CraigMain73) December 12, 2022
Others raised fears about the bus services which the changes are intended to assist.
Another person said: “Aberdeen City Council doing what it does best, causing more mayhem and congestion in the city centre, giving priority to the private-run and inadequate bus service.
“That area is already congested, you should be looking at ways to ease it, not make it worse.”
Once the bus priority route is in place, the council said access to properties, businesses and the Trinity Centre car park will be maintained via the Denburn and South College Street routes.
More bus gates, right-turn bans and pedestrianised areas
A raft of major changes are due to come into force very soon in Aberdeen City Centre.
We have all the information you need to know about the council’s decisions.
