A study into how safety at a Mearns blackspot junction can be improved will be published next month.
A public exhibition was held in Laurencekirk in January to seek views on proposed options for junction improvements for the A90 and A937.
Seven packages were unveiled, but one involving average speed cameras was rejected, leaving six all of which include a grade separation at the south junction.
Calls for a grade-separated junction grew louder last week when a 30-year-old man was seriously injured when his car burst into flames following a crash with a lorry at the junction.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Transport Scotland would publish its findings next month and any decision will be taken after that.
At First Minister’s Questions, Angus North and Mearns MSP Nigel Don asked: “Given that the junction has already been identified as one that needs to be grade separated, can the First Minister give me any assurance on how quickly that will be done?”
The First Minister said her first thoughts were with the individuals involved in the accident, and she extended her very best wishes to those who were injured for a “speedy and full recovery”.
She said: “The circumstances of the particular accident that the member has highlighted will obviously need to be fully investigated, but he will know that the Scottish Government, working alongside the north-east of Scotland transport partnership, Angus Council and Aberdeenshire Council, is examining whether improvements are required to the Laurencekirk junction.
“Indeed, Transport Scotland is publishing a study next month that will help to inform how access to the junction can be improved, and I know that when that study is published the Minister for Transport and Islands will be very happy to meet Nigel Don to discuss it further.”