Commuters in “horrendous” tailbacks on A90

By David Clegg

COMMUTERS TRAVELLING on the A90 Dundee to Perth dual carriageway experienced massive tailbacks yesterday and face another three weeks of long, peak-time delays.

Queues several miles long built up during morning and evening rush hours in and out of Dundee as BEAR Scotland set up a contraflow system to allow roadworks near Longforgan to get under way.

Tayside Police urged motorists to avoid travelling at peak times if possible and seek out alternative routes to help cut traffic volumes.

Morning commuters heading into Dundee appeared to have suffered most with delays of up to an hour.

But vehicles leaving the city in the afternoon also got caught in build-ups of traffic stretching from Snabbs Farm near Longforgan to the Swallow roundabout—around three miles.

Police estimated that delays of at least 15-20 minutes were normal for drivers heading west in the late afternoon. Few problems were reported later in the evening.

One motorist, who was caught up in the morning chaos as he attempted to enter Dundee from Perth, said, “I had just gone past Errol when I got to the queue and I have been waiting for an hour and have not yet reached the roadworks.”

Another driver, travelling from Dundee to Perth, said that although the problem was not as severe in that direction it was still “horrendous.”

He said, “I took the back roads to work so I avoided the worst of it but the queues were just unbelievable.

It seems that especially those trying to get into Dundee were having major problems.”

The delays also had an impact on Invergowrie as frustrated motorists attempted to avoid the chaos by taking a shortcut through the village.

One Invergowrie resident said it was the worst tailbacks he had seen during his 40 years living in the area.

Tayside Police, who were not involved in dealing with the traffic, said that apart from “very frustrating delays,” there were no accidents or other incidents reported.

Gary Langlands, president of the Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said the delays would have an impact on businesses whose workers were caught up in the delays.

He said, “Like most cities we rely on people commuting into the town for work. Local businesses do rely on traffic management being efficient enough to get people into work on time.

“From a business point of view there will be frustration that staff are sitting in traffic when they should be at work and we would ask that the relevant authorities get their act together for the rest of these works.”

The £2.2 million upgrade on the two and a half mile stretch of the A90 is being carried out by Tayside Contracts on behalf of Transport Scotland and being supervised by BEAR Scotland.

A BEAR Scotland spokesperson said yesterday, “Delays have been experienced today at the works on the A90 at Longforgan.

“This is not unusual on the first day of major roadworks as drivers become accustomed to the restrictions in place.

“Advance signing has been in place prior to works starting.”