There have been fresh calls to upgrade a potentially lethal Mearns junction ahead of a crunch meeting on the issue.
The issue of safety at the Laurencekirk junction is to be considered by the Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee on Tuesday.
Petition 1236, instigated by local campaigner Jill Campbell with the support of 8,125 signatories, urges the Scottish Government to improve safety measures on the A90 by constructing a grade separated junction where the A937 crosses the A90 at Laurencekirk.
The issue has grown since the petition was submitted in 2009, and Angus North and Mearns MSP Nigel Don has supported the petition ahead of the committee meeting.
He believes major developments at Montrose, such as a centre for renewables and the planned expansion at Angus Cereals, could mean many more HGVs crossing the A90 at Laurencekirk.
The MSP has written to Transport Scotland to ask what analysis they have done of the recently published South Montrose Draft Development Masterplan.
Mr Don said: “The draft plan proposes £21.7 million of new infrastructure developments, 200 jobs and added value of £315 million for the Montrose economy.
“There is also the expansion of the grain dryer which is served exclusively by bulk lorry and can handle 300 tonnes of grain per hour, and of course GSK has been investing in their plant.”‘Quite surprised’He added: “I want to be sure that Transport Scotland, both Angus and Aberdeenshire Councils and other relevant agencies have fully considered the potential traffic flows.
“I will be respectfully requesting members to keep this petition open until all the facts about current and potential traffic at this junction have been fully assembled and debated.”
Local councillor David May supported Mr Don’s comments as he believed the subject is a matter of “public safety and not politics”, but felt the loudest voices on the issue are often left “out of the loop”.
He said: “I was quite surprised the committee were meeting. Neither I or Jill (Campbell) knew this was on the agenda the last time it came up and I only found out about it from Jill yesterday.
“I wrote to them last time but was only given two days’ warning to do so and am left in the same position this time.
“You can’t really make your point effectively or arrange to come in.”
Mr May said he was disappointed in correspondence with transport minister Keith Brown after the petitions committee first discussed the issue.
He said: “I really expect the Transport Scotland and Keith Brown in particular to have taken these issues on board and then put this on transport plans for the next 20 years I would urge him to do so as quickly as possible.”