A public meeting has unanimously called for a flyover to be put in place at a notorious Mearns junction “without delay”.
The event in Hillside Hall brought MSPs and the public together to discuss the Laurencekirk junction campaign.
Florist Jill Fotheringham, who has led the campaign, said: “Transport Scotland and Keith Brown are wasting even more money on yet another report since they are ignoring the key issue of crossing of the junction yet again.
“Hundreds of drivers have to cross this junction every day to get to work as part of their business and it is a nonsense for the authorities to say they should take the coast road to go north.
“Keith Brown has the power to make the decision and instruct Transport Scotland to go ahead with the flyover, but yet again he is effectively kicking the decision into the long grass.
“I can assure him that we as a committee, backed up by thousands of people in our area, will not give up until he takes action.”
The meeting also heard that the speed limits at the junction were not working as thousands of motorists were caught speeding and that accidents were still a regular occurrence.
Montrose councillor David May added: “How much more evidence does the minister need before he goes ahead with the junction?
“If he does not believe our campaigners let him try crossing from the Marykirk side at 7.30am between Monday and Friday as we can have over 20 vehicles waiting to cross.
“There have also been examples of two vehicles on the crossing point which is far from safe, which is probably caused by frustration on the part of some drivers.”