A petition has been raised calling for action to be taken to stop a new bypass junction turning into a “traffic blackspot”.

Commuters have faced long queues in recent weeks after temporary lights were installed at the junction of the A93 North Deeside Road and Milltimber Brae.

Culter Community Council has raised the petition with the Scottish Government, calling on Transport Scotland to provide a roundabout at the junction instead of planned permanent lights.

In a statement, the group said: “Can we make it clear that the petition is not about the current roadworks and delays but that our concern is that the permanent junction will create a traffic blackspot.

“With permanent traffic lights instead of a roundabout we foresee significant delays, especially as the filter lanes are too short to prevent tailbacks.

“A temporary roundabout has been extremely effective at maintaining flow of traffic thus far.”

Councillor Tauqeer Malik, who represents the area, said: “I’m very unhappy about this situation and it’s not acceptable at all.

“Sometimes in the morning it can average about 30 to 40 minutes to get past the junction.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by these critical works in Milltimber. The contractor will endeavour to complete the works at the earliest opportunity and in the meantime we ask that road users allow additional time for their journeys.

“The contractor is working with Aberdeen City Council to develop an interim solution which will reduce congestion in Milltimber where possible.”

In a bid to ease congestion, the southbound lane of the new AWPR link road is temporarily closed. This is to allow traffic from the northbound B979 Milltimber Brae to make a right turn onto the A93 North Deeside Road without having to give way to southbound traffic.

An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “We have provided options to the AWPR team and are waiting for them to comment further.”