A935

The A935 runs from Brechin to the Angus coastal town of Montrose along the northern side of the River South Esk.

Route

Entering Brechin from the west

These days the road starts on the A90 (former A94) Brechin bypass some way to the west of the town. St Annes Junction is a GSJ, where a roundabout connects the two slip spurs, before the road curves to the east onto a relatively straight road into the former royal burgh. The fields to either side are part of the Brechin Castle Estate, the main grounds of which lie to the south after the junction with the B9134. The A935 enters Brechin on Castle Street and then wiggles a little along St Mary Street and onto St David Street and Swan Street to avoid the narrower streets of the historic town centre. Ironically, perhaps, these streets are today the main shopping streets.

At the end of Swan Street, traffic is turned north onto Clerk Street, as this was once the route of the A94 through the town. Clerk Street was a spur of the B966, but now seems to be unclassified, so the A935 has to TOTSO ahead onto Panmure Street to reach a roundabout with the B966, and again 'TOTSO' right onto Southesk Street. This was the original route of the A933, which curves southwards before turning sharp left onto Montrose Road. At the point where the A933 now starts, the A935 finally finds its original start point, and continues east out of town. Fields appear on the left first, opposite a small industrial estate, but soon the A935 is in open country, curving through fields with a scattering of houses. The preserved Caledonian Railway is close at hand to the north, with just a narrow field between it and the road.

This part of the A935 is characterised by a series of straights, before it becomes a little twistier, to duck under the railway line. Sweeping bends then take the road through the scattered settlements of Dun, losing a little height, but still offering some glimpses of Montrose Basin ahead. Soon, however, Montrose is in sight as the road skirts the vast tidal basin to the west of the town. After crossing the railway line, the A935 turns right at a roundabout from Brechin Road onto Medicine Well Drive, which runs alongside the tracks to meet the A92 at another roundabout, north-west of the town centre.

History

Both ends of the A935 route have been changed, that in Brechin with the construction of the bypass. The first mile or two into and through Brechin were therefore once the A94, A936, and A933. The A935 took over the route instead of extending the A933 as it gave a single route number through to Montrose, the more likely destination of traffic through Brechin. The A94 did originally, however, take a slightly different route, following Church Street and High Street in place of St Mary Street and St David Street. This had been changed by the 1960s, when Clerk Street became the main road north. Panmure Street was originally the diminutive A936, and the rest of the route was the A933.

In Montrose, the A935 originally ran straight along Brechin Road to meet the A92. The re-routing along Medicine Well Drive almost certainly dates from the opening of the town centre relief road.

Brechin Eastern Bypass Proposal

In the mid to late 2000s, Angus Council were reportedly looking at an eastern bypass for Brechin. The fact that little detail seems to survive online suggests that plans didn't get very far, but a little information on the proposals has survived. The general idea appears to have been to start the new road on the A935 to the east of Brechin, and head north across the steam railway and then curve around to meet the B966. Beyond this, things become less clear. At the time, Transport Scotland seemed reluctant to permit a new junction on the A90, so while the ideal route was presumably to cross the B966 somewhere near Unthank Farm to reach the A90, the actual draft may have been to feed into the B966, which as the former A94 is a high quality B road, and use the existing Keithock Junction.

Numbering of this route is uncertain, but a desire to remove through traffic from Brechin town centre seems to have been a core reason behind the proposals, so it is likely that the A935 would have been diverted onto it. However, as the majority of through traffic on the A935 is presumably heading to the westbound A90, the lengthy detour of the proposed new road may not have produced any journey time savings. Ultimately, the road has not been built, although some localised improvements have been carried out to Drumachlie Loan, which performs a similar job, it remains a narrow S2 with some sharp bends.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Brechin - Montrose