Two paths have been upgraded in Aberdeen including replacing and extending a boardwalk over a boggy field thanks to Offset Mitigation project funding which ACC successfully bid for, as part of the AWPR B/T project.
They are at Bucksburn/Kingswells valley and the Newhills Church path, and are designed to allow safe, improved access between local communities and recreational areas.
The £120,000 upgrade of the paths is also designed to enable opportunities for a range of different users to carry out commuter, recreational and utility trips, and increase access to the countryside.
Aberdeen City Council operational delivery convener councillor John Wheeler said: “It is fantastic to see these paths finished and being used and I’m sure residents in the local communities will enjoy the better access they now have to the beautiful countryside.
“Our contribution to the AWPR B/T project is £75m so it’s good these paths have been completed just shortly before the entire scheme is finished. These completed new paths are part of a range of non-motorised user improvements which are included in this project, and altogether they will help unlock many more sustainable travel benefits for the residents of Aberdeen and the wider area.”
Douglas Laird, Transport Scotland’s project manager for the AWPR/B-T project, said: “A range offset mitigation projects have benefitted from the AWPR/B-T project, from water vole and red squirrel conservation projects, to improving and developing walking and cycling paths. Aberdeen City Council were able to successfully identify the projects which will generate the biggest improvements for its local communities and we are pleased that these paths are now complete.”
The AWPR B/T contribution came from a fund which was set aside to offset the potential effects of the road’s fragmentation on non-motorised users.
Aberdeen City Council selected the boardwalk section at Bucksburn valley, which is designated as a core path, as the previous boardwalk was becoming. The path links several communities including Northfield, Bucksburn, Newhills, and Kingswells and it also crosses the AWPR road to Brimmond Hill and provides an attractive countryside walk.
The path beyond the boardwalk had become increasingly waterlogged and muddy, so the boardwalk was replaced and extended, and new steps and a granite dust path were constructed.
The Newhills Church granite dust path from the church to the churchyard forms part of an aspirational core path and was upgraded because the previous path had been built more than 20 years ago and was in a very muddy condition.
Aberdeen City Council is in the process of planning to upgrade another path in the same area, thanks to AWPR B/T Offset Mitigation project funding.
