Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty Project: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/00181
Date received: 22 January 2018
Date responded: 16 February 2018

Information requested

For the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route:

1. What provisions have been made for tourist signage:

• What content will be displayed on these signs?

• Will tourists routes be signed?

• Will nearby national parks, National Trust properties and Historic Scotland properties be signed?

2. How many matrix broads/variable message signs will be installed along the route?

3. How many speed cameras will be installed along the route?

4. How many traffic monitoring cameras will be installed along the route?"

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

1. Tourist signs on the AWPR/B-T have been developed in line with the Scottish Office Development Department Circular 27/1995 and the "Trunk Road and Motorway Tourist Sign Posting Policy". The Brown Tourist signs identified under these guidelines as being required during the development process are generally located on the new side road network and in most cases are to replace or enhance existing signage which, as a consequence of the changes in layout, would otherwise become redundant. The tourist facilities which are to be represented by new Brown Signs are "The Den and the Glen", "Wyndford Farm", "Country Park and Beach", and "Coastal Trail North".

2. The AWPR/B-T project will have 11 Variable Message Signs (VMS) located in advance of the key junctions, or network decision points to display strategic and tactical text messages and/ or multi coloured pictograms to drivers.

3. There are currently no plans for speed cameras on the AWPR/B-T project roads.

4. There are 24 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras proposed which will provide full coverage of the road corridor at the key junctions along the route allowing visual monitoring by Transport Scotland's Traffic Scotland Service (TSS) operators.

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