Drivers heading south on the A9 in Perthshire claim to have faced delays of over two hours due to works on the £150 million Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR) project.
Several motorists said - at its worst - they spotted an eight-mile tailback of traffic queued back from beyond Bankfoot to Perth's Inveralmond Roundabout on Friday afternoon.
Contraflows on the A9 north of Inveralmond Roundabout began last week on April 11 and are scheduled to be in place until late August 2023.
The works are associated with the construction of the new flyover between Inveralmond Roundabout and Luncarty, linking the new bridge over the River Tay.
Since Tuesday, drivers have faced northbound lane closures on the A9 with a contraflow in place on the existing A9 southbound lanes. The Luncarty junction remains open for both the on and off-slips. This first contraflow is set to be in place until June 24.
Drivers heading southbound seem to have been hit hardest by delays.
One local resident said she took almost three and a half hours to get from Aberfeldy to Inveralmond on Friday, April 14 and ended up missing her appointment.
She said: "Traffic was static from north of Bankfoot. Needless to say, I was over two hours late for an appointment so cancelled and turned home at Inveralmond."
She added: "Admittedly it was Friday afternoon at the end of the holidays, but this is still April and the volume of traffic will steadily increase over the summer. The first warning of 'possible delays'; came when I had already been queuing for two hours!"
And it was a similar tale of woe for a number of motorists heading south with one calling the traffic jams on Friday, April 14 "an absolute shocker".
Another said: "When I left Perth to head to Kenmore at 14.15, the traffic coming from North was queued back past Bankfoot."
The second contraflow is due to start in late June and last around 10 weeks until late August. Traffic will be under contraflow on new A9 road alignment on the northbound lanes. A shuttle bus will be provided to maintain public transport provision throughout the duration of the southbound slip road closure from Luncarty.
The CTLR is Perth and Kinross Council's largest ever infrastructure project. As well as constructing just over a mile of realigned dual carriageway on the A9, the project involves the construction of a new three-span bridge over the River Tay and a four-mile stretch of new carriageway linking the A9 and the A93 to Blairgowrie and the A94, just north of Scone.
Conservative councillor John Duff had to travel from Aberfeldy to Perth on Friday for an appointment but went via the Sma' Glen. The Highland Perthshire councillor has advised those who can to take alternative routes.
He said: "Being aware of the roadworks, I decided to take the hill road from Aberfeldy to Perth and went via the Sma’ Glen and the A85 through Methven. I’m glad I did as I would have been late for my appointment otherwise. Those of us who can take an alternative route should try and do so to alleviate pressure on this stretch of the A9 during these works."
Cllr Duff is also calling for the traffic light timing sequence at Inveralmond Roundabout to be altered to allow larger volumes of southbound traffic through.
He said: "I have asked if the traffic lights at Inveralmond could be adjusted to allow more southbound A9 traffic through during these roadworks and that may also help to reduce traffic."
PKC's Roads Infrastructure Manager Jillian Ferguson said the council was aware of delays on what was the final weekend of the school Easter break.
She said: "As well as the planned A9 contraflow for essential Cross Tay Link Road works, additional roadworks were also in place on surrounding roads. Coupled with vehicle breakdowns north of the works on the A9, this exacerbated the situation."
PKC has been working alongside the lead contractor for the CTLR project BAM Nuttall, Police Scotland and all relevant roads authorities for several months to ensure the works are completed safely and efficiently.
Weekly traffic management meetings will continue to be held between all parties until contraflow completion in August 2023.
BAM Nuttall's project director William Diver said: "We are committed to delivering this essential phase of the CTLR project with minimal disruption and this includes constant on-site monitoring of traffic and manual control of the lights at Inveralmond Roundabout when necessary.
"In addition to this, automatic traffic delay information is updated regularly through the Roadside VMS Control Centre, and via the Traffic Scotland website and Twitter account. Breakdown assistance is permanently on site to remove vehicles as required.
"Moving forward, we anticipate an increase in traffic volume over the summer months, but modelling undertaken in liaison with Transport Scotland and BEAR predicts this is likely to be less concentrated than the Easter break, with fewer intense peaks."
