Shocked at proposal for A96 route

SIR, – Like many people, I was taken aback when I walked into the exhibition for the A96 dualling scheme. I was not prepared for how far the proposed routes to the north-east of Inverurie intruded into the rural landscape.

It appears that the objective of the proposed blue route is to reach a junction in a rural setting near Lochter, a few miles from Oldmeldrum, before heading back to Donside. This routing adds significantly to the mileage, so there must be a good reason for it.

In a paper to be presented to Aberdeenshire Council’s Formartine area committee next week, there is a clue as to the aim of this extended routing.

The report explains that council officers believe an A96 dual carriageway on this route “would likely provide an attractive option for existing users of the A947 who have origins or destinations to the north of Oldmeldrum”.

So the reason for the longer routes north-east of Inverurie seems to be to entice traffic off the A947 to join the A96.

This additional traffic would then be taken through Barra, Bourtie, Keithhall, Kinmuck and Balbithan, where it would be taken over the River Don on a massive new bridge built on the flood plain, to join the existing A96 at Kintore.

I still don’t understand why we would want to draw in new traffic to make the A96 busier between Kintore and Aberdeen.