Route safety strategy comes under scrutiny
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Councillors will hear next week of the progress made by the A947 Member Officer Working Group as it presents its latest report to the Formartine area committee.
Members will be asked to provide comment on the progress made to date on work which has been done to improve the route.
They will also see planned actions which have been outlined to further improve safety of drivers and pedestrians along the road which runs from Banff to Dyce.
The officer group was set up back in 2018 to ensure that progress continued to be made on the improvement strategy for the A947 which looks at a 20 year period for both short and long term goals and which was started in 2016.
This includes delivering improvements which contribute to reduction in the number of accidents, improve journey times and improve access to public transport.
In the report which will be discussed, the group explain that progress has been made on short and medium term objectives, however long term plans have been stalled by the Scottish Government's lack of progress on delivering a preferred route for the A96 dualling and potential effects this would have on both the AWPR and particularly the area around Dyce and Newmachar through the associated junction networks.
Figures show that the number of casualties and collisions on the road has fallen over the last five years, but that serious and unfortunately fatal accidents do still occur.
Work is also set to continue in monitoring the traffic associated with the AWPR to help develop a business case for future route upgrades.
Reviews are also to be carried out into previously identified locations for extended laybys to allow slow moving vehicles to pull in as many of the existing ones are considered to be in the wrong locations and inadequate for modern farm machinery and HGVs.
However laybys have not been identified as the preferred option for creating overtaking opportunities, instead feasibility of introducing overtaking provision through carriageway widening is to be examined.
Issues of traffic flow mean that clear points where overtaking can be done are limited, initial assesment of potential climbing lane locations identified 15 sites in total with locations north of Newmachar, north of Oldmeldrum, north of Fyvie and north of Turriff considered the most suitable, but all of which require considerable investment to take forward.
A review of night time driving conditions identified areas where line definition and road studs needed attention and enhancement which have been incorporated into a work plan for ongoing maintenance.
There has also been a de-clutter audit carried out to identify signs which are either no longer required or no longer valid to be removed in due course.
Full information on report and actions planned can be found on Aberdeenshire Council's website on the A947 Route Improvement Strategy page.
