I am happy to report that after consultation with local members and community councils, the consensus is that the Hill of Keir road should remain open.

There was a proposal put forward by the council to close off the bottom part of this road following planning consent in principle being granted for the next phase of the Broadshade housing development. The effect of this would have been diverting traffic currently using this road on to the new distributor road, Broadshade Road. This was a major concern for myself and others. Discussions are ongoing with the developers to redesign the junctions leading from Broadshade, along with some minor improvements to the Hill of Keir road.

The U130c road from Easter Ord Farm to the B9119 Tarland road at Westhill will be closed for two weeks from Monday, November 18.

 Road repairs will be taking place and the closure is necessary to ensure the health and safety of all road users.

An alternative route will be signposted via the B9119 to the B979 at Carnie Crossroads, then the B979 to C127c at Wester Ord.  Aberdeenshire Council apologises for any inconvenience caused by the works.

 Motorists are advised to check the council’s website for details of roadworks and closures in Aberdeenshire: http://bit.ly/McuJ6x

Thanks to the Sauchen resident who enquired about the ongoing roadworks at Elrick. Traffic lights have been in operation for a couple of weeks now and appear, most of the time, unmanned. At peak times, there are considerable backlogs of traffic.

BT Openreach are responsible for the works. When they came to repair a collapsed manhole earlier this month, they discovered that a live hydro cable passed through their equipment and this has hindered repair operations.

Although the works were anticipated to be complete by this Friday, 1st November, it now appears unlikely that this is the case. As soon as Roads Department can get an estimated completion date, I will update.

Part of Peregrine Road at Westhill will be closed from Wednesday 2nd October 2013 for two weeks due to sewer connections work.

The road will be closed from the Aberdeen Mountain Rescue Team Centre to the site of the new development.

Diversions will be in place via Peregrine Road and the A944 Straik Road.

Please note that due to new road construction to be carried out, it will be necessary in the interests of public safety to apply the following restriction to traffic.

TEMPORARY 30 MPH SPEED LIMIT on the following road

A944 ALFORD TO WESTHILL ROAD

FROM WESTHILL DRIVE (TESCO ROUNDABOUT) TO ABERDEEN CITY BOUNDARY AT BISHOPDAMS BRIDGE.

FROM MONDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2013 for 6 MONTHS

Please note that this is in place of the previously proposed full road closure restriction.

Work required to upgrade the existing road network on the A944 between the Six Mile Fork roundabout and the Tesco roundabout to the west side of Westhill which is a condition of approval connected to the Arnhall Phase 3 development is proposed to take place in September and anticipated to last for approximately 12 weeks.

It is intended that the works be carried out in 4 phases. It is envisaged that Phase 1 will be carried out “off road” (this is the part which will widen the A944 running from the Tesco roundabout to the Six Mile Fork roundabout in to dual carriageway) with little impact on the existing traffic flows being anticipated.  

The contractor has also confirmed that they will endeavour to maintain two way traffic flows on both the A944 and B9119 during the construction period for phases 2,3 and 4 (these phases include re-alignment of A944, removal of existing roundabout and formation of new junction with associated traffic signals, and finally re-alignment of B9119), however, there may be a need for short term road closures which would be in place if required “off peak” and/or over the course of a weekend to allow tie-in works and final surfacing works to be carried out.

I will post further updates as and when available.

Please note that due to water connections to be carried out by UMS Ltd, it will be necessary in the interests of public safety to apply the following restriction to traffic:

One way system on Endeavour Drive, Westhill from the direction of the junction of Prospect Road to the junction with A944 Straik Road for 1 week from Monday 5th August 2013

Please note that due to EMERGENCY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH WESTHILL GALA it will be necessary in the interests of public safety to apply the following restriction to traffic

 NO WAITING   (when cones are deployed)  on the following street in Westhill:

WESTHILL DRIVE  both sides from Old Skene Road to Hay’s Way

 FROM  0600 hrs to 1800 hrs ON SATURDAY 1 JUNE 2013.

 Temporary NO WAITING cones will indicate the temporary restriction to traffic.

Good news this last week that the Aberdeenshire Council spending on the AWPR has been capped at £75m. The Alliance are committed to the project and have been working hard to progress it.

Aberdeenshire Council’s deputy leader, Martin Kitts-Hayes, said that although it was a cost the local authority would prefer was met by the government, a deal had been agreed a decade ago.

He added: “It’s a lot of money, we would much prefer the Scottish government to pay the £75m but we did agree back in 2003 that each of the councils would pay the 9%.

“Clearly at that time we were talking somewhere in the region of £30-32m so £75m is a lot of money to find, particularly in these difficult economic times, but Aberdeenshire Council is absolutely committed to the AWPR and we have already put £10m aside as part of that and we are borrowing up to £70m so we are confident that we will be able to find the money to make sure this happens and without that impacting on the services we provide to our council taxpayers.’’

For commuters travelling along the A944 over the next few months, you can access updates on the link below regarding disruptions while ongoing construction work to the Primefour site continues. The website is also full of interesting information about what looks like a very exciting development. If you are like me and drive that stretch of the road every day, look across and wonder what is going on and try to visualise the finished product, look no further!

http://www.primefour.co.uk/traffic