The two shortlisted bidders are Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd and Farrans Construction.

This next stage of procurement will see the two bidders enter into a period of competitive dialogue.

The contract for delivering these key improvements is estimated to be worth £18 million approximately and involves the construction of around 500m of new dual carriageway connecting the A90 North Anderson Drive and the A96 Auchmill Road.

Upon completion, the improvements will reduce congestion, improve journey time reliability and bring about road safety improvements. The project will also enable new pedestrian and cycling routes through the local area.

Minister for transport and islands, Humza Yousaf, said: “Today’s announcement is a further sign of this Scottish Government’s commitment to improving the roads in the north east of Scotland

“Not only have we reached this key milestone in the procurement today, but we are also progressing opportunities to undertake some work in adavance of the main construction. This would enable the main construction contractor to hit the ground running later in the year.

“We remain committed to tackling the bottleneck at Haudagain. Alongside benefits from the AWPR, the A90/A96 Haudagain Improvement Project will boost the local economy and bring much needed journey time benefits for road users and communities in the north east.”

Completion of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty will take traffic away from the streets of Aberdeen and improve air-quality to some 75,000 houses.

That, coupled with the removal of the bottleneck roundabout at Haudagain, will deliver improved journey times for strategic and local traffic bringing much needed relief to road users and communities in the north-east.