Plan for new roundabout to improve safety at Toll of Birness

A consultation has started on proposals to create a roundabout at Aberdeenshire's Toll of Birness road junction.

The junction of the A90 and A952 roads north of Ellon has seen many collisions over the years, some of them serious.

Funded through the Aberdeen City Region Deal, the latest work builds on recent Nestrans transport appraisals and detailed studies of the A90 and A952 corridors.

The findings from the consultation exercise will be shared with Transport Scotland and will help refine the preferred option as the project progresses. It closes on 18 September.

Aberdeenshire Council said the preliminary designs were aimed first and foremost at improving safety at the Toll of Birness.

But it said the roundabout would also bring improved traffic flow and reduced congestion on the A90 trunk road. The council said this would strengthen connectivity for the busy fishing ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

A public information session will be held at Hatton public hall on 2 September.

The event will also include information on appraisal work for the Cortes junction on the A952, south of Fraserburgh.

Councillor Alan Turner, chair of Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure services committee and vice-chair of regional transport partnership Nestrans, said Toll of Birness was a busy junction on a key route.

He added: "Incidents around this location have at times been serious and this reinforces why we are bringing forward these proposals."