B9130

The B9130 is one of those routes that has been stitched together from a variety of other roads. It runs around the eastern side of Glenrothes, through Markinch, and then heads south towards Kirkcaldy on the former route of the A92.

The B9130 passing through Markinch

Starting at the Tullis Russell Roundabout on the A92, the route heads east towards Markinch along Markinch Road, the former route of the A911. After passing some modern housing estates, largely hidden behind trees, the route reaches the edge of the old town, becoming Balbirnie Street as it passes a block of flats fronting an old council estate. Opposite lies a golf course and parkland, and playing fields then follow before the town centre is reached. A handful of shops are passed before the B9130 negotiates a sharp right turn onto the High Street. Presumably this was once a bustling town centre, but with the growth of Glenrothes New Town, several of the old shop fronts have been bricked up and the properties converted (back) to houses. At the end of the High Street, the road sweeps left to cross the railway, and then TOTSOs right immediately on the far side of the bridge to join its original, short route.

For the next mile, the B9130 follows a route it has had since it was originally classified. It heads south on Coaltown Road, past the back of the station, and alongside the railway before curving off across fields. It soon goes over the A911 then, in the simplest of grade-separated junctions, an apparently unclassified road heads left to join the two. A thickly wooded section then leads across the River Leven and across a large island formed by an old Mill Lade a little to the south. As it starts to climb the hill, it reaches a T-junction, which is the old end of the B9130, the other two arms of the junction formerly being the B921. Now, however, the road to the east is unclassified, and the road ahead is an extension of the B9130, which continues south into Coaltown of Balgonie as Millburn Avenue.

Curving round to the west, the route recrosses the railway, and follows Main Street through the straggling village with lots of old stone houses. No sooner has the village been left behind, and fields are found, then the B9130 reaches Coaltown Roundabout. Ahead is what is now the eastern end of the B921, quickly leading to the A92, whilst the B9130 turns left, onto Blackwood Road. This is a new road which passes some industrial sites before curving west once more as it crosses the modern line of the A92 to pick up that route's historical line into Thornton. A roundabout provides access to modern housing estates, and then after crossing the Lochty Bridge over the Lochty Burn, the route heads south onto Main Street into the centre of the village. After passing the shops, another railway is crossed, next to Glenrothes With Thornton Station, and Main Street continues south out of town, roughly parallel to the A92 before the two converge at the Redhouse Roundabout, with the A921 continuing ahead into Kirkcaldy.

History

The route originally came to the area around 1930, as a short road in Markinch, and while this is all that is shown on the 1976 OS Landranger map, it has since been extended substantially in both directions.