Aberdeenshire Council to spend £10m repairing Aboyne Bridge over six years

Aberdeenshire Council is expecting to shell out £10m on repairing Aboyne Bridge over the next six years.

A report outlining the local authority’s roads and infrastructure programme of works across the region went before councillors on Tuesday.

It explained the activities that have been prioritised for action over the next 12 months despite an £83,000 cut to the infrastructure budget.

The paper included an updated bridges priority list, which revealed the local authority’s plan to spend the huge sum on the Aboyne structure.

Meanwhile, the report also gave updates on roads maintenance, drainage and lighting, as well as flood risk and coast protection works.

The 90-year-old Marr bridge was abruptly closed to vehicles in November 2023 due to concerns the structure couldn’t cope with heavy traffic.

Plans to repair the bridge were taking shape two years on from its sudden closure, however Aberdeenshire Council revealed these were to be scrapped in December.

Head of Roads and Infrastructure, Philip McKay, explained that recent investigations “threw up some issues” and revealed the the bridge was in a worse condition than previously thought.

But going forward, money will be spent on Aboyne Bridge until 2031 on an option review, as well as design and enabling works to allow it to finally reopen.

This year alone, the council is looking to splash out £525,000 on initial steps to get the bridge back in action.

As the initial repair is no longer possible, officers have three alternative options to consider.

The first is a full strengthening and repair of the crossing, which could cost up to £15m.

Or they could install a temporary crossing, sometimes referred to as a bailey bridge, next to the current structure at a cost of up to £8m.

Demolishing the existing bridge and building a new one in its place could also be done, but this would set the council back around £30m.

But Aboyne isn’t the only bridge in Marr to receive some much-needed TLC this year,

A further £4m is expected to be spent over the next six years on nearby Dinnet Bridge, of which £250,000 will be spent this year on design development alone.

Other structures included in the priority list are the Bridge of Buchaam and Auchallater Bridge.

Principle engineer Lee Watson attended the Marr area committee meeting and revealed that work is getting underway on Dinnet and Auchallater.

He explained that infrastructure firm Amey has been awarded a contract to investigate and assess Dinnet bridge for capacity issues to help with future strengthening works.

Meanwhile, plans are getting underway to remove the current Auchallater bridge and prepare the site for a replacement structure.

However there is no time scale for completing these projects and both are heavily dependent on funding.

After hearing the update, councillor Geva Blackett said: “I welcome the four bridges that are in the priority list for capital funding and look forward to work continuing, particularly on Aboyne Bridge and Dinnet.”