When The Herald produced the first in-depth report on Scotland's whole transport infrastructure, the demands from Aberdeen were for a peripheral road to take traffic around the city and significant improvements to both Dee and Don river crossings.

The peripheral road would avoid the need for a rail freight terminal south of the city as well as to the north. That was three years ago and not a great deal has changed.

''There are proposals that there should be a rail freight terminal plus an acceptance that we should have a peripheral road,'' said Derek Marnoch, left, chief executive of Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce. ''The big question is how we afford it and who is going to pay for it? ''On the river crossings there's a lot of talk but nothing has ever happened. The peripheral road might require upgrading but there are no separate plans, and that is a bottleneck on traffic into the city.

''Basically the situation hasn't changed. There is still a lot of discussion and a lot of good intentions.''

What has changed since is the introduction of ideas for limiting cars in the centre of Aberdeen. Parking is restricted and where street parking is available the maximum parking time in many places is limited to just one hour.

That makes it increasingly difficult to do business in the city, said Marnoch. ''The main concern now is the project to try and discourage city centre traffic with very little alternative transport. There has to be another approach.

''We have to grasp the nettle and do something. It is going to have to be a mixture of stick and carrot but at the moment we seem to be getting just the stick.''