Frank Urquhart: Chaos guaranteed as thousands converge twice a day on this nightmare junction

RUSH-hour motorists with an alternative route avoid the Haudagain roundabout like the plague. Traffic queues can reach more than a mile during peak periods.

Converging on this single roundabout every morning are drivers heading out to the airport, thousands of oil workers trying to get to their offices in Dyce and the Bridge of Don, fish lorries heading south from Fraserburgh and Peterhead, delivery lorries trying to get across the city using the so-called ring road that is Anderson Drive, and motorists heading into the city centre from various towns and villages in Aberdeenshire. It's a recipe for chaos, mayhem and road rage every morning and evening rush hour.

And motorists trying to avoid the Haudagain simply clog up the traffic on every rat-run they take as an alternative.

It takes only the slightest accident at the roundabout for traffic to grind to a complete standstill, causing traffic chaos and gridlock across the city.

According to a recent report produced by Nestrans, the local transport partnership, it can take, on average, anything between seven and 22 minutes at peak periods for a driver to cross the roundabout.

The report continued: "The pressure on Haudagain has led to rat-running in adjacent residential streets. Measures to address this have been taken by Aberdeen City Council, including street closures and traffic calming, but the problem still persists as drivers take greater detours.

Around 600 vehicles have been recorded rat-running through Middlefield on a weekday afternoon."

According to the report, the Haudagain features "as the terminating point of three out of 22 of the recognised most congested routes in Scotland".

Not a single motorist travelling across Aberdeen would disagree.