Whatever happened to the Rothienorman link road?
It's still closed, one year after completion.
Whatever happened to the new road between Inverurie and Rothienorman?
The route linking the B9001 Inverurie-Rothienorman road with the B9170 Inverurie-Oldmeldrum road was constructed to meet a planning condition attached to new housing developments at Uryside and Portstown.
It was completed last year, but never opened due to a design fault at the Rothienorman end – a dip in the roundabout which prompted fears that lorries could topple over.
Peter Chapman, North East Region MSP, said: “I contacted Aberdeenshire Council about this as many people have raised concern as to why it has taken so long to open.
“The road was built more than a year ago, yet remedial work only began earlier this month.
“Given the traffic congestion experienced daily in and around Inverurie, I would have hoped there would be greater urgency in getting this work completed. There is no use having a link road if nobody can drive on it.
“I have been assured now that work has started to amend the problems in the design and should be completed within four months.
“I do still feel that there are questions to be answered around why the road was not built to the correct specification in the first place, and why the council did not insist upon that at the earliest stage.”
A spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council said: "The B9170 Oldmeldrum road - B9001 Rothienorman road to the east of Inverurie and its associated roundabouts were commissioned and funded by a housing developer to satisfy a condition of the planning consents for the nearby residential developments at Portstown and Uryside.
"Some considerable time ago the Council advised the developer that the roundabout, which had been built with a dip on one side, was not built to the required standard, and subsequently agreed with the developer the amendments needed to rectify the design problem on the B9001 roundabout.
"The link road was unable to open as intended as there was a risk that large vehicles might have toppled over when making turning manoeuvres onto the link road.
"An amended design was recently formally approved by Aberdeenshire Council and the developer has duly appointed a contractor to carry out the remedial works required.
"Site works commenced on Monday 5th August and are programmed to last for around 4 months.
"On satisfactory completion of the works to the required standards, the link road will be able to open to all traffic.
"The cost of these works will be borne by the developer."