CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
"Disappointment as Aberdeen bypass appeal thrown out"
(11 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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The strange thing is people in Aberdeen (of whom I know many having grown up there) really do think the bypass means the city will be quiet of traffic. Genuine wholehearted belief. And that business will suffer if there isn't a bypass (surely a bypass means people don't come in to spend, and if they have to come in to the city then they're not on the bypass and so not not contributing to city traffic).
That said, there are still people believe Trump's golf course will increase house prices over the whole of Aberdeenshire. Not sure if they've noticed the saturation of golf courses in the area already, or that Trump is talking out of a hole in his heid when he rabbits on about the course getting the Open.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Just goes to show that if the government, local politicians, businesses etc. tell folk something often enough, they start to believe it. I guess that's 'consensus' in action, even if it's based on a delusion.
Posted 12 years ago # -
The campaign against bypass has been going on for ten years at least? Can they go anywhere else? Do any bypasses reduce traffic in the towns / cities they bypass?
Posted 12 years ago # -
@gembo - yes, it would appear so, if the bypassed towns are not destinations in themselves. So, if you build a bypass past a village on the road from city A to city B, the village sees less traffic. If you build a bypass round city A, then it makes little difference, as the traffic was heading into the city anyway.
In Aberdeen, the question is, how much traffic was wanting to get past it without calling in?
<checks a map>
Nope, don't expect there'll be much difference, as Aberdeen isn't on the main route from one large centre to another. Unless it makes Dundee to Inverness via Aberdeen more attractive than the A9. Come to think of it, that might be pertinent in the winter, the coastal route being less prone to "weather".
Robert
Posted 12 years ago # -
Despite what Aberdonians may believe, the traffic in Aberdeen isn't that bad - not when compared to the likes of Glasgow or Edinburgh. I lived in Aberdeen for years - outwith rush-hour periods you never had to give much thought to being stuck in traffic. However, at rush hour, it can be bad as traffic from the North and South has only a few places to cross the Don or the Dee.
I can see the by-pass helping people who travel from the South to the industrial estates around the airport, or commercial traffic heading south from the likes of Peterhead. However, it's a huge expense for what will be limited benefits particularly when you consider the baffling spur to Stonehaven.
I'm not sure that it would be a great help as a winter diversionary route - if the A9 is blocked then there's a good chance that the A96 would also be impassable. The Glens of Foudland between Inverurie and Huntly is a bad spot in snow - and going round the coast by Banff is a very long diversion.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Of course, the village bypass, I should have remembered that as there is one in balerno, very recently a bus tried to drive up the by-passed main street (dead end now, was pedestrianised but now Tarmac / carpark for people who decline / are unable to walk from the actual car park). Anyway, this bus made the paper as it was a sleepy month for the currie and balerno news. The old timers say the by pass killed the shopping on mainstreet, despite the aforementioned carparks and indeed the top car park I haven't yet mentioned. Balerno - village of car parks
Posted 12 years ago # -
"In Aberdeen, the question is, how much traffic was wanting to get past it without calling in?
<checks a map>"
In fairness there's a lot of traffic to Fraserburgh and Peterhead, and I would probably use it for visits home as me mam lives in Ellon to the north (where I grew up).
AKen is spot-on - outside of rush hour Aberdeen is generally a doddle to drive through. At rush hour it's an absolute nightmare (for the reason mentioned, not many routes into the city from outside). The bypass touching down north of the city near Balmedie (Trump's new place) is all fine and well, but the bad traffic from the north is queuing from turn-offs to Newburgh and the like (and in bad weather on the short section of dual carriageway from just south of Ellon).
But of course Salmond was trumpeting this news - could it possibly be because he's a local MP? Hmmm?
Posted 12 years ago # -
Not so good but not as bad as what the papers will lead on tomorrow (well if nothing bad happens tonight)
Posted 8 years ago #
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