Work to remove a notorious bottleneck on the A96 in the north-east of Scotland moved closer today with the award of a multi-million pound contract.

Worth around £10 million, the contract to deliver the construction work at the Inveramsay Bridge will be awarded to Balfour Beatty, subject to the satisfactory completion of a mandatory standstill period. Work is expected to get underway in the coming weeks.

Completion of this important scheme will help to cut congestion, improve journey time reliability and traffic flows, as well as reduce the likelihood of bridge strikes which can cause disruption to both road and rail users alike.

Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “This project - along with progress made on the dualling of the A96 and A9 as well as the pre-commencement works on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty scheme, represents billions of pounds of investment and underlines the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring that the transport infrastructure in the north and north-east of Scotland is fit for purpose.

“We want to see an early solution to this particular bottleneck and today’s announcement is welcome progress delivering on our pledge to start construction work before the end of the year.”

The improvements will involve complex engineering works to enable the road to be realigned and existing traffic signals and height restrictions on this route to be removed allowing the free flow of traffic. The new road alignment will be constructed to the east side of the railway, minimising disruption to the travelling public during the work.