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New signs directing drivers to Aberdeen bypass to cost almost £500,000

by Charlotte Thomson
13/11/2019, 9:00 am
An aerial view of the AWPR
An aerial view of the AWPR

Nearly half-a-million pounds will be spent on new road signs to help direct drivers to the Aberdeen bypass.

Aberdeen City Council has contracted a local firm to make and install about 450 signs.

It will take several months to complete the £475,000 scheme, which will begin by the end of the year.

The initiative will be part-funded by Transport Scotland.

A city council spokeswoman said: “The new signs are designed to help make the city centre a destination rather than a through-route and complement the new bypass by helping to direct motorists to and from it.

“Due to the huge number of new signs, they are not being installed in one go and it will take several months for the job to be completed.

“The bypass has helped to reduce journey times for people in Aberdeen and the wider area, and the new signs will help people to find their way out of the city on to the bypass by the most appropriate route.”

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The change of road signs aligns with a roads hierarchy strategy agreed at a committee meeting in June to reclassify main roads and realign junctions.

For decades, motorists had to use Anderson Drive and South Anderson Drive as one of the main thoroughfares from north to south, along with other main roads to cut across the city centre.

The roads hierarchy report, agreed by the council’s city growth committee, set out a new way of moving traffic away from the city centre and out to the AWPR.

It builds on the city centre masterplan by making Aberdeen a destination and also improves air quality, supporting public transport and helping to reduce congestion in the area.

The existing signs, left, and how the new signs will look, right

New signs are needed to encourage drivers to leave the city by major arterial routes including King Street, Great Northern Road, Westburn Road/Lang Stracht and Wellington Road as they head out on to the bypass.

The contract for work on the new signs has been awarded by the city council to Markon, a division of Aberdeen-based Leiths Group.

David Steel, of Leiths Group, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Aberdeen City Council on this project, which will provide long-term improvements to traffic in the city.”