Dundee motorists hoping for a bypass will have to keep waiting after Scottish Government ministers distanced themselves from a new road.
The so-called Dundee northern relief road featured in a key 2008 document, outlining Holyrood’s transport spending priorities.
But ministers have now distanced themselves from the idea and are instead championing an “integrated transport plan” for the A90 through the city.
The Scottish Government published its second Strategic Transport Projects Review in December.
Spending priorities for the next 20 years include investing in decarbonising public transport and better active travel infrastructure.
Era of ‘catering’ to car use is over
Transport secretary Michael Matheson said: “The era where catering for unconstrained growth in private car use is well and truly over.”
But Conservative north east list MSP Maurice Golden claimed the decision could leave Dundonians “suffering from intolerable” emissions.
He said: “The long-awaited STPR2 document doesn’t show much of a way forward for Dundee and Angus.
“It does look like the idea of a northern relief road has been consigned to history, in the hope an ‘integrated’ public transport model appears.
“But the timeline for that seems incredibly tight.”
He warned the Dundee Low Emission Zone, which will see drivers of the most polluting cars fined from 2024, could increase Kingsway congestion.
Other notable “pinch points” include the Swallow roundabout on the boundary with Perthshire and Forfar Road, he added.
Donald Gordon is chair of the Dundee Civic Trust. He said the group previously made strong representations to government, as part of a recent consultation, in favour of the northern relief road.
The group are in favour of a “through road”. That would facilitate traffic bypassing Kingsway entirely when it moves between Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Perth and other key locations. It would not be intended for the bypass to open up fresh land for development.
He said: “We do not want a bypass to improve journey times or benefitting the economy.
“But rather to address the environmental damage, pollution, health issues, congestion and severance that unnecessary through traffic is causing along the A90 route through Dundee.
“Also, the upgrading of Kingsway that would be essential to cater for the inevitable long-term increase in traffic volume will require huge, expensive and disruptive infrastructure “improvements” along the whole route of the Kingsway.
“This would not reduce the pollution or congestion problems.”
What does an “integrated transport plan” mean for the A90?
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said the plan would seek to improve reliability and deliver improvements for sustainable travel.
“All with the ultimate aim of contributing to our net zero target.”
Furthermore, he added, the plan will consider existing road network issues and “proposed mitigation” in and around the A90 Kingsway.
It is not yet clear what that would look like in practice.
He said officials at the agency looked forward to working with local partners.
“To help address local and regional traffic and related issues for residents, businesses and visitors to Dundee.”
Conversation