£14m active travel project under way

ARBROATH drivers are braced for 18 months of town centre traffic work after cones went down for the start of the Place for Everyone active travel scheme.

The £14 million vision is finally becoming reality – five years after the Angus town landed major Sustrans funding for the pioneering project.

The Scottish Government-backed charity is ploughing £10m into the initiative to transform the A92 Burnside Drive dual carriageway.

Angus Council is funding the remainder of the major infrastructure investment.

In January, council leader Beth Whiteside acknowledged the controversy the scheme has generated.

But she urged people to get behind it.

“This is a really important project, for Arbroath and Angus,” she said.

“It’s sometimes difficult to get people to accept change, but we have to make this leap of faith.”

It represented an SNP U-turn on the project.

In 2021, when in opposition, the group wanted A Place for Everyone axed from the cash-strapped council’s budget.

It labelled the project a “want not a need”.

A Place for Everyone aims to bridge the divide created between the town centre and West Port by the dual carriageway.

It will reduce the road to a single lane in each direction, creating new space for cyclists and pedestrians.

There will be new junction treatments at key locations. Those include the entrance to Arbroath harbour, where the existing roundabout will be removed.

Guthrie Port roundabout at the north end of Burnside Drive will be completely redesigned.

Balfour Beatty is the main contractor.

The firm was due to begin work at the beginning of the year but was held up by contractual delays.

Angus Council will hold a sodcutting ceremony today to mark the beginning of the town’s latest major infrastructure project.

It follows the completion in 2022 of the £12m Brothock Burn flood protection scheme.

We plan to follow the project’s route to completion in late 2025.

It will feature regular photo and video updates in the months ahead as A Place for Everyone passes key milestones.

Cones on the A92 in Arbroath.