The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), unofficially also the City of Aberdeen Bypass, is a major road that wraps around the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. The road stretches north from Stonehaven through Kincardineshire and crosses both the River Dee and River Don before terminating at Blackdog. The main stretch of the AWPR is in length.
The AWPR also includes the A956 spur that links the bypass to the A92. The construction of the AWPR was coupled with extensive upgrades to the A90 continuing north with the Balmedie to Tipperty dual carriageway, supplanting the existing road which was subsequently detrunked and is now the B977. The AWPR's primary route is designated as part of the A90, with the original A90 now renamed the A92, which now connects with the AWPR at both of its ends.
The road is predominantly rural, crossing mainly through farmland and forest while skimming past built-up areas. The AWPR is legally classed as a special road by the Scottish Government. This means that the bypass is governed under motorway restrictions. The road itself is near-motorway grade with all junctions being grade-separated with adjoining slip roads (the only exception being the Cleanhill roundabout), a full-length continuous concrete step barrier, large road signage, legal prohibition of stopping and reversing alongside restriction to Class I and II vehicles, barring non-motorway traffic from using the bypass altogether. The road however lacks hard shoulders and instead includes emergency lay-bys. The regulations governing the AWPR are not those of a standard primary A-road and are very similar to those found on motorways, however the road is not classed as a motorway under its statutory instrument.
The Balmedie to Tipperty road is not part of the bypass despite being built in conjunction with it and therefore not bound by the AWPR's statutory instrument, making it an ordinary dual carriageway. First announced in January 2003, the road was approved by Scottish Ministers in late 2009 with the original costs estimated at between £295 million and £395 million. Construction on the AWPR began on 19 February 2015. The final section opened exactly four years later on 19 February 2019.
Background
Prior to the introduction of the AWPR, the only dual carriageway route heading from north to south was Anderson Drive, the city's original bypass constructed in the 1930s. By the 1950s, Anderson Drive had been swallowed into the rapidly-expanding Aberdeen with the creation of new post-war suburbs such as Northfield, Mastrick and Garthdee. The road was unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles as they could not cross the Bridge of Dee at its south end, therefore large vehicles were forced to detour along the B9077 across King George VI Bridge before returning to Anderson Drive via Broomhill Road, resulting in local and strategic traffic coming into conflict in a built-up area which caused serious safety concerns.
The idea for a new bypass for Aberdeen was first proposed in 1952. Following decades of discussion and low-level planning, the Scottish government's plan to construct the bypass were announced in 2003, by the then first minister. In 2012, following lengthy legal delays, the project was approved. Construction began in February 2015, supported by both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils in addition to NESTRANS, the statutory Regional Transport Partnership for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. By 2016, the total cost of the bypass was projected to have a significantly higher cost of £745 million.
The AWPR was opened in segments, starting with between the Blackdog and Goval junctions which was soon followed by the Balmedie to Tipperty stretch. By December 2018, the AWPR had fully opened to motorists with the exception of between the Craibstone and Goval junctions which was due to concrete problems at the River Don Crossing. The entire road became operational on 19 February 2019 - later than planned partly due to weather issues and the January 2018 collapse of contractor Carillion. Giving evidence to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee in December 2018, a spokesman for Balfour Beatty agreed that the total cost of the bypass could be "in the area of" £1 billion., Scottish Parliament reports, 5 December 2018
Congestion relief The road was designed to have a positive impact on traffic along routes which are congested during rush hour, particularly Aberdeen's Anderson Drive, King Street and Union Street. Other intentions of this project included slight reductions in traffic congestion on local bridges heading into Aberdeen city centre, which is sandwiched between the Rivers Dee and Don, this would be achieved by reducing the volume of heavy goods vehicles that do not need to enter the city. The project was also intended to dial back the level of traffic heading towards Aberdeen Airport, the adjacent industrial estates at Dyce and the new Aberdeen International Business Park. Aberdeen City Council constructed a new six-lane extension of Argyll Road to connect Aberdeen Airport and the AIBP with the A96 and AWPR, the road opened in late 2016 and is now the B984.
Inquiry and preparation It was repeatedly argued that the road was important to keep the local economy active. This was in addition to alleviating traffic in the city centre and reducing road accidents.
A public local inquiry (PLI) was held during 2008 to 2009. The PLI recommended adoption of the route and it was subsequently approved by Scottish Ministers, the route passed the Scottish Parliament on 3 March 2010. An appeal was made to the Court of Session based on points including the limited remit of the PLI. The appeal was dismissed, a further appeal was then made to the Inner House, the appellate division of the Court of Session. A yet further appeal was afterwards made to the UK Supreme Court. This appeal also failed to overturn the decision to proceed with the route.
In 2010, the International School of Aberdeen moved to a new campus to make way for the construction of the road. The rebuilding of the school was funded by the Scottish Government.
Construction Contract award On 19 October 2012, a notice was published advising the market that expressions of interest for contractors to construct the route would be made at the beginning of 2013, this was with a view to commence construction of the AWPR in late 2014. The initial shortlist of four preferred bidders was reduced to three with the withdrawal of the Scotia Roads Group consortia in September 2013. This left Granite City Roads (Macquarie Capital Group Limited: Vialia; Iridium; Kier Project Investment Limited), North East Roads Partnership (Cintra Infraestructuras, S.A.; John Laing Investments Limited) and Connect Roads (Balfour Beatty Investments Limited; Carillion Private Finance (Transport) Limited; Galliford Try Investments Limited) as the remaining bidders. Keith Brown, the then Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities also advised that the scheme may open in stages where possible in an effort to relieve existing traffic, with the announcement of the preferred bidder for the contract expected in the summer of 2014.
The official estimate of the cost of the AWPR was initially between £295 to £395 million, although reported figures were in the region of £653 million. Transport Scotland quoted the scheme at £745 million in 2012 prices. The contracts for associated preparatory works were announced on the Public Contracts Scotland website in 2016.
The contract award was announced on 11 June 2014 with Connect Roads, advised by Pinsent Masons, named as the preferred bidder. Advance works were then already underway, with Keith Brown making the announcement of the winning bid from the site of construction works at Findon Junction. A series of public exhibitions around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire in June 2014 were also announced by Transport Scotland in order to inform the public regarding progress, advance works, the route and environmental aspects. An £8 million "pre-start works agreement" was announced between Transport Scotland and Connect Roads, with the bidder starting fencing, environmental surveying and ground investigations ahead of the main works contract commencing later in the year. Other site clearing works and environmental works, such as the relocation of protected badgers also continued.
The completion of construction works was anticipated in the later half of 2017, about 6 months before the original timescale. The Craibstone roundabout was expected to be completed in the second half of 2016, alongside the Balmedie to Tipperty section a few months later. Main sub-contracts for the construction phase were published on the Public Contracts Scotland website, with most indicated to begin in January 2015. Transport Scotland also added a current activity page to their AWPR/B-T area, which detailed ongoing works on the project.
Local campaigners in Stonehaven raised concerns over the proposed design for the interchange of the existing A90 dual carriageway and the new Fastlink section of the AWPR. A local farmer offered land for free to support an alternative design for the interchange, but Transport Scotland said changes at this point would add delay and jeopardise the now late completion date of 2017, this was due to road orders and other legal instruments having already been made. They also said the alternative design had been considered and discounted by the design team.
Project mobilisation
Financial close on the project with the winning bidder, now known as Aberdeen Roads Limited was achieved on 15 December 2014. It was also announced that lifetime costs for the project were down by £220 million thanks to innovative new features on the AWPR such as more durable long-life road surfacing. Aberdeen Roads Limited will construct and operate and maintain the route for a period of 30 years. It was also announced that the consortium would be bringing forward the scheduled completion dates for the Craibstone and Dyce junctions by Autumn 2016, to be soon followed by the Balmedie to Tipperty dual carriageway by the first half of 2017, following requests from stakeholders. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, along with Cabinet Secretary Keith Brown, Leader of Aberdeen City Council, Jenny Laing and Leader of Aberdeenshire Council, Jim Gifford attended the site at Balmedie on 16 February 2015 to perform the ceremonial ground-breaking and officially commence the start of the construction programme.
The main site office was constructed at Ury, Stonehaven with a local firm successfully tendering for and providing the temporary accommodation units. Clearance works for the Balmedie site office were performed during the official ground-breaking ceremony and visit of the First Minister, with the first overhead line safety systems being erected and Flannery Plant heavy machinery preparing for the works start. The first major traffic management systems for the works included a new 30 mph speed limit around the local roads in the vicinity of Dyce, Goval and Parkhill. In addition, traffic lights and lane closures on the A93 North Deeside Road at Milltimber Brae during May and June were implemented to allow for trial digs and work concerning the re-routing of utilities. Aberdeen Roads Limited published its first project update newsletter in the spring of 2015, detailing current and future works plus traffic management measures.
Project delays and cost overruns