Aberdeen road signs being replaced for £475,000 due to bypass

Hundreds of road signs are to change around Aberdeen at a cost of £475,000 to direct people due to the new city bypass.

Aberdeen City Council has awarded a contract for about 450 new signs.

The installation of signs is due to start before the end of the year, and is expected to take several months to complete.

The council said there would be a cost contribution from Transport Scotland as part of the overall bypass settlement.

The Aberdeen bypass - first approved in 2009 - became fully operational in February with the opening of the final stretch of the road.

• Final Aberdeen bypass section opens

The project - stretching 36 miles (58km) - suffered a series of delays.

The council said in a statement: "The bypass has helped to reduce journey times for people in Aberdeen and the wider area, and the new signs will help people to find their way out of the city onto the bypass by the most appropriate route."

The eagerly-awaited bypass was approved in 2009

The local authority added: "The new signs are designed to help make the city centre a destination rather than a through-route and compliment the new bypass by helping to direct motorists to and from it.

"Due to the huge number of new signs, they are not being installed in one go and it will take several months for the job to be completed."

The contract for the manufacture and installation of the new signs has been awarded to Markon, a division of Aberdeen-based Leiths Group

David Steel, of Leiths, said: "We're delighted to be working on this project, which will provide long-term improvements to traffic in the city."