Aberdeenshire Council has provided an important update on the future of Aboyne Bridge, following new findings which have raised fresh concerns about the condition of the structure.
Philip McKay, Head of Roads and Infrastructure, said:
“As part of the ongoing design work for remedial repairs to Aboyne Bridge, further planned invasive site investigations have been undertaken over the recent months.
“Unfortunately, this work has confirmed that there are further anomalies in our understanding of the bridge design and several new significant structural issues. These latest findings that this will significantly delay the previously published repair programme.
“While we remain fully committed to keeping pedestrian access open, the newly identified deterioration and defects are an added cause for concern and to ensure the structure remains safe for all active travel users, we will now carry out regular load tests on the bridge.
“Aberdeenshire Council fully recognises the significant and ongoing impact that the closure of Aboyne Bridge has on daily life in the area both for residents and local businesses. We continue to treat this as a priority and our teams and contractors are working as quickly as possible to identify a safe, reliable and sustainable solution for the community.”
Scottish Conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Alexander Burnett, who launched a petition on bridge closures across the region, said: “This is a devastating blow to the community who have been left isolated by this disastrous closure with seemingly no end in sight.
“I’m deeply worried that Aboyne Bridge will not open to traffic again and I will now be contacting the council for more information.
“The closure of Aboyne Bridge is causing significant inconvenience for people getting to work, seeing family and having access to our beautiful countryside.
“It has cut off residents who are being forced into making a 20-mile round trip to Dinnet.
“The result of this is putting intolerable strain on Dinnet Bridge, which is not suitable for the additional traffic now using it.
“More than 60 bridges in Aberdeenshire now face urgent repairs by 2030, which underlines the severity of the situation across the region.
“At the heart of this problem is the Scottish Government’s chronic underfunding of Aberdeenshire Council, leaving the local authority scraping for money to fix our infrastructure.
“The council needs a proper infrastructure funding mechanism from the Scottish Government to address these issues and to keep our communities united by reopening bridges like Aboyne.”
