West Garioch Councillor Welcomes Inveramsay Progress

SNP councillor for West Garioch, Allison Grant, has welcomed Transport Minister Keith Brown’s confirmation of the preferred route for the Inveramsay Bridge improvements on the A96.

Commenting, Councillor Grant said:

“I’m delighted at this further announcement and it is clear that the pace of progress on this is picking up rapidly.  This represents real progress over a very short period of time since the SNP Government came to power.

“When one considers the length of time the Liberals were in office in the previous Scottish Executive with absolutely no action whatsoever taken to deal with this issue, it’s a bit rich for Liberal MPs and MSPs to jump on this particular bandwagon.”

Transport Minister Keith Brown said:

“The Scottish Government is committed to improving traffic flow on the A96 at the Inveramsay Bridge.

“Locals and visitors can expect significant benefits through reduced congestion and improved journey time reliability on one of the north of Scotland's main routes. The works will also enable the removal of the existing traffic signals from the road.

“Following the public consultation last October, the ‘road over rail river route’ option has been identified as delivering the best value for money, whilst minimising disruption to existing road users. It is also offers additional safety benefits relating to the height restriction on the existing structure and separates local agricultural traffic from other vehicles.”

The works are expected to be completed during this Parliamentary term, subject to the satisfactory completion of statutory processes.

1. Images of the preferred option and documents can be found here.http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/files/documents/projects/Option-C-Public-Exhibition-2011.pdf
2. The Transport Minister announced £5 million as part of budget consequentials in February 2012 to ensure that construction of the Inveramsay Bridge improvement works takes place this Parliamentary term, subject to satisfactory completion of statutory processes. The total estimated cost of the scheme is £12-15million.
3. An Environmental Impact Assessment will be carried out and draft Road Orders will then be produced and published.
4. Further public consultation and an exhibition will also be held to seek comments on the Draft Road Orders. This is expected to take place in Spring 2013.
5. The preferred option, Option C in the public consultation last October, described as the “road over rail river route (with accommodation underpass)”, is an offline route which runs from 100m west of the existing Inveramsay Bridge eastwards towards the River Ury. It runs parallel with the river for approximately 600m before turning southwards and crossing over the railway line. The road then comes back onto the line of the existing road. This option includes a new junction at the existing Inveramsay Bridge to provide local access, two new field accesses and an accommodation underpass.