A907

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A907

Map needed: File:A907.png

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From:

Stirling (NS805954)

To:

Halbeath (NT130885)

Via:

Dunfermline

Length:

22.4 miles (36 km)

Meets:

A91, A908, A977, A823, M90

Primary Destinations

Stirling •

Highways Authorities

Clackmannanshire • Fife • Stirling

Traditional Counties

Clackmannanshire • Fife • Stirlingshire

Route

Section 1:Stirling - Alloa

The road starts at Causewayhead in northern Stirling, right below the Wallace Monument. The first section to Manor Powys was A91 for a time between the latter's diversion away from Logie Road and its rerouting along the Stirling Eastern Bypass. After leaving the houses of Causewayhead, A907 passes below the brooding crags of Abbey Craig, before suddenly emerging onto the broad plain between the Ochils and the Forth. A91 crosses at Manor Powys roundabout.

The next mile or so is notorious for having been built some six years before it was opened, a victim of the division of highway funding responsibilities when Central Region was broken up in 1995. The connecting Clackmannanshire section had to wait until 2002 to be funded, built and opened, leaving Stirling's part in splendid isolation in the meantime. The old road from here to "Dumyat View" (an industrial estate west of Tullibody) is now a cycleway. The new road crosses an unclassified road at Blackgrange by a roundabout that seems over-engineered at first sight, but many lorries turn here for the bonded whisky store visible to the south.

The closed Cambus–Menstrie branch line is crossed by a bridge that has never seen a train; this piece of road was so long from planning to building that the line was abandoned in the meantime! As Tullibody on its hilltop approaches there are two roundabouts in quick succession, the first for the 2005 extension of B9140, the second for B9096. The latter road also reaches Alloa on a marginally more direct but built-up route through Tullibody, and was undoubtedly the original line. The more modern route passes by Cambus and enters Alloa.

Before WWII the A road ran into Alloa over a level crossing and along Grange Road; now it traverses a gyratory system either side of a railway cutting and rejoins B9096 at a roundabout near the Town Hall. A 1970s inner ring road cuts off the town centre, ending at another roundabout where A908 heads off to Tillicoultry and the original Grange Road line joins in. On the edge of Alloa, near Alloa Athletic's Recreation Ground is a junction with B909 to Sauchie. The latter is in the course of reconstruction to the east as part of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway project; Alloa Fire Station is located near the junction, and the risk of fire appliances being held up at the existing level crossing has to be eliminated. A little further on a roundabout gives access to a retail development. The half mile of single carriageway that follows may be dualled as part of the B909 project just mentioned; the work at the time of writing seems to point that way.

Section 2:Alloa - Halbeath

Then there is a short existing section of dual carriageway, at the end of which is a rather hazardous junction with B910, the original A907 ran through Clackmannan. Here the dualled section suddenly funnels into single on a bend under a railway bridge and follows the 1980s Clackmannan Bypass to Gartarry roundabout, crossing A977 and rejoining the original line.

New and old roads

Fife is entered at this point, and the road passes through forestry plantations, with a nasty double bend over a disused railway bridge at the charmingly named Bogside. Former coal country lies beyond the junction of B9037 for Culross, and A907 passes through the edges of the mining villages of Blairhall, Comrie and Oakley. A little further on is a signal controlled bridge over Comrie Burn at Carnock. B913 from Dollar and Saline joins at an angle at Gowkhall, and a little further on the Dunfermline built-up area begins.

A half mile section is provided with speed bumps, then A907 bears right at traffic lights. Drivers in the know keep straight on, using B9155, Mill Street and Bruce Street to reach the town centre. The original A907 route went along William, Golfdrum and Chalmers Streets. The newer route stays on William Street and TOTSOs with A994 from Cairneyhill at traffic lights, then after rejoining the older line it crosses a high concrete viaduct over the deep cut Dunfermline Glen. A907 becomes dual carriageway just up the hill from here at the junction with A823 from Crieff and is the official number of the short multiplex section between the two roads which ends at a roundabout where A823 heads down a modern ring road. Passing the East End Park home of Dunfermline FC, the Kelty bound B912 turns off at a junction with a complex traffic light sequence. Then there are 4 roundabouts in succession, linked by dual carriageway: one leading to a retail development; the next to the original A907 line through Halbeath; the third with an unclassified road, and the fourth--the daddy of them all--the signal controlled colossus giving onto M90, A92 and a local road. Before the A92 improvement in the 1990s A907 used to continue to Kirkcaldy; the route is now covered by parts of B925, A909 and B9157; the A907 itself now terminates here. Parts of the original road are still visible; Main Street and Sandybank in Halbeath village were on the original route; Sandybank terminates in a cul-de-sac a few scant feet from the large roundabout at Junction 3 on the M90. On the east side of the M90, the original road now forms part of the access to a service station and various car showrooms and industrial units.