Westhill to Aberdeen - Active Travel Improvements

This engagement is being undertaken to gather public views on proposals to improve the routes for walking, wheeling and cycling between Westhill and Aberdeen City Centre, routeing via Skene Road (A9119).

Improving the environment for those walking, wheeling and cycling is a key component to encouraging people to be more active when travelling. There are a range of benefits associated with active travel including health and air quality benefits, safety benefits, community place making benefits and economic benefits. 

In addition to the benefits set out in the figure above, one of Scotland's key climate change targets is to achieve a 20% reduction in car kilometres by 2030. To achieve this target there needs to be a reduction in car use with a move to more sustainable modes of travel such as public transport and active travel.  To help achieve this, where possible, walking, wheeling and cycling need to be attractive and viable alternatives to travel by car. Transport Scotland supports this through its Sustainable Travel Hierarchy which prioritises the needs of walking, wheeling and cycling above other modes of travel.

Proposals to improve walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure between Westhill and Aberdeen were first developed as part of the A944 / A9119 Multi-modal Corridor Study. The Study identified options for delivering transformational change to sustainable transport provision (both bus and walking, wheeling and cycling) on the A944 (Lang Stracht / Westburn Road) and A9119 (Queen's Road / Carden Place) western road approaches to the city.

While we believe that a route following the main road is preferable from a cycling perspective and can offer a high quality level of provision, the study found that, in some locations, this could prevent the delivery of additional bus priority measures (another key aspiration of partners). Alternative parallel routes for cycling were therefore identified along quieter residential streets where improvements could be made, albeit these parallel routes would likely offer a lower quality of provision than the main road option. This included routes using King’s Gate, Carnegie Place, Rubislaw Den North/ South, Queen’s Lane North and Albert Lane.

This consultation is primarily seeking the views of members of the public and stakeholders on the main road option. We believe this option offers the best level of provision for active travel users. However, we recognise that there may be cost and deliverability challenges associated with this option which may emerge as the designs are further progressed. Therefore we are also seeking views on the alternative parallel routes that have been developed.

Designs for the route have been progressed for:

• Main Route (Section 1): Westhill to the Lang Stracht / Skene Road junction
• Main Route (Section 2 - the preferred option for this location): Lang Stracht / Skene Road junction via Skene Road, Queen's Road and Carden Place to the City Centre
• Alternative Parallel Routes: via King's Gate roundabout to the Queen's Cross roundabout:
  • Parallel Route A: King’s Gate, Carnegie Place, Rubislaw Den North, Desswood Place, Fountainhall Road, Albert Lane
  • Parallel Route B: King’s Gate, Anderson Drive, Rubislaw Den South, Queen’s Lane North, Albert Lane

These routes are shown in the image below.

A survey at the end of this engagement provides the opportunity to comment on the proposals. We welcome your input in helping shape the proposals.

Any feedback you provide will be anonymous and we will not be collecting any personally identifiable information.

If you would prefer a hard copy survey to fill out, please contact: Fiona Duncan –  Fiona.duncan@stantec.com  or   0131 297 7019

The proposals have sought to be truly transformational, with an end-to-end corridor based approach to their development. The design development has focussed around six core design objectives (noted below) as set out in the Scottish Cycle by Design Guidance (CbD). The proposals also reflect the key design messages in CbD (as shown in the figure below), and have followed the Scottish Government's 'Designing Streets' Guidance to ensure the development of a safe walking and wheeling environment which is accessible to all users.

The proposals for each section are set out below, including links to plans containing greater detail.

Key features proposed to enhance the walking, wheeling and cycling environment (as detailed in the plans below) include:

• A continuous, safe and attractive cycle route between Westhill and the city centre
• The use of segregated two-way cycle tracks (on one side of the road) or one-way cycle tracks (on both side of the road) along busier roads with higher speed limits
• On-road cycling along residential low speed roads supported by traffic management and calming measures (referred to as mixed traffic or cycle streets)
• New and improved pedestrian and cyclist crossings at junctions at standalone locations
• Continuous footways at side roads providing walking, wheeling and cycling priority

Overall the proposals provide users with a continuous, coherent, attractive and safe  environment.

Required changes to the road network layout to accommodate the proposals are also set out in the plans below. Such changes include:

• Main Route (Section 1) (i.e. A944 and Skene Road): road widening including a loss of verges, narrowing of the central reservation, removal of vehicle turning gaps in the central reservation, and changes to junction operations
• Main Route (Section 2) (i.e. Queen’s Road, Carden Place, Skene Street): reduced capacity for general traffic, impact on residential on-street and Pay & Display parking, loss of some bus priority measures, and major changes to key junctions
• Alternative Parallel Routes: impact on residential on-street parking, reduced access routes for cars and increased pedestrian and cycle priority over car movements

Measures to mitigate some or all of these impacts will be developed during the next design stage e.g. more tree planting, landscaping, bus stop improvements, and consideration of how to accommodate any parking loss along the routes, including outside Gilcomstoun School.

Greater detail on the proposals for Section 1 can be found on this link:  Main Route Section 1 

Greater detail on the proposals for Section 2 can be found on this link:  Main Route Section 2 

Greater detail on the proposals for Alternative Parallel Route A can be found on this link:  Alternative Parallel Route A 

Greater detail on the proposals for Alternative Parallel Route B can be found on this link:  Alternative Parallel Route B 

We welcome your views on the proposals.

Please only fill out the short survey below if you are aged 16 or above.

The responses from the survey will be collated and analysed to:

• Establish views on the proposals presented
• Help appraise and sift the options under consideration.