Transport Scotland has announced the official opening of the Scottish Government backed A92/A96 Haudagain improvement project.

Opening to traffic today, the project delivers 500 metres of new dual carriageway, allowing road users in Aberdeen to bypass an area well known for causing significant queues and delays for traffic.

The new dual carriageway link road will take traffic between the A92 North Anderson Drive and A96 Auchmill Road and improve traffic flow, alleviate congestion in the area and improve journey time reliability.

The opening of this £49.5 million new road will further enhance the benefits road users in the north-east are already enjoying from the £745 million investment in the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty project. Prior to cutting the ribbon to mark the road opening, Minister for Transport, Jenny Gilruth MSP visited the Middlefield Community Project to hear more about some of the community benefits that the Contractor, Farrans Construction, has delivered during the construction period.

Ms Gilruth was then accompanied on a short walk to the new road by Farrans Construction staff Carol Fleming and Jack Patton, whose experience on the project enabled them to gain qualifications as well as a wealth of experience working on a major infrastructure project.

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Commenting, the Minister for Transport Jenny Gilruth said: "It has been just over three years since construction work began on this key improvement for Aberdeen and later today the public will be able to travel along it for the first time.

"The new dual carriageway will help tackle the congestion caused by the traffic bottleneck at the Haudagain roundabout and deliver significant benefits including improving journey time for road users and public transport.

"I know there have been delays to the completion of this project, which has been understandably frustrating for the local community. The contractors did suffer from staff shortages due to the impact of the Omicron variant at the turn of the year and I am hopeful the community will now welcome the project's completion.

"I was delighted to cut the ribbon to open this new road, allowing the local community and road users of Aberdeen to start enjoying the benefits that it will bring to the north-east."

Barry McLean, Regional Director for Farrans in Scotland, said: "We are pleased to have reached this important milestone in the progress of the A92/A96 Haudagain improvement project. We have worked closely with Transport Scotland to deliver a scheme which will alleviate bottlenecks at the roundabout, creating a new dual carriage way and enabling improved pedestrian and cycling routes through the local area.

"Farrans is one of the longest standing civil engineering contractors in Scotland and this year we are celebrating 75 years in the country. We are proud to have delivered a successful legacy of roads and bridges, renewables, marine and light rail projects here during that time. This is a very important region for our business and we are pleased to add this integral project milestone to our portfolio."

With the road now open to traffic, contractor Farrans Construction will remain on site for a period of time to complete work on the side roads and to undertake necessary finishing, snagging and seasonal landscaping works.

The contract to construct the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project was awarded to Farrans Construction in January 2019 with a value of £18 million.