Close to a quarter of a million pounds was spent on a single road works project in Dundee last year, the most expensive in the city in the last five years.
The work, which took place on Perth Road, was one of many road works projects to have taken place on the street and the surrounding West End area in recent years with residents and local councillors repeatedly voicing their frustration with the consistent disruption.
Taking place in a stretch close to the new Harris Academy building in May 2016, it cost the council £242,178, and lasted for three weeks in total.
The works, between Blackness Avenue and West Park Road, had long been planned but construction of the school meant that the stretch of the road was being used regularly by heavy duty machinery, postponing the project.
A year on, the area continues to be impacted by works with a further four weeks worth of road maintenance disruption set to hit the area at the end of the month.
There have been calls in the past for a moratorium on road works in the area to give residents and businesses respite from the resulting road closures, temporary traffic lights and one-way systems.
Upon finding out the high cost of last year’s project, West End councillor Fraser Macpherson said he was “very unhappy” with the quality of the work, having previously voiced frustration with disruption due to the high number of projects in the area.
He said: “A quarter of a million is a significant cost and I want to see value for money and minimal disruption during the impending works.
“I remain very unhappy about the quality of surface dressing of Perth Road recently west of Harris Academy and have made clear to Tayside Contracts that the remaining dust and loose chippings must be removed.
“There’s been significant road works on Perth Road and Nethergate in recent years with resurfacing between Blackness Library and Harris Academy and also further east at Nethergate.”
The latest work will begin on July 24 with a section — between Hawkhill and Roseangle — set to be closed for “major road maintenance”.
The works are expected to last for four weeks, causing disruption to public transport throughout their duration.
Motorists will be diverted during the improvements on to alternative routes via West Marketgait and Hawkhill.
After the Perth Road project, the next most expensive road works in the city in the last five years was resurfacing work on Lochee Road in 2015 which cost £185,000, with last year’s works on Drumgeith Road the third most costly, requiring an injection of £177,000.
