B918

The B918 is a short B-road in Kinross-shire which forms two distinct parts.

Route

Approaching the A91

The route starts at a simple T junction on the A91 to the north west of Balado airfield and initially heads south, before turning sharply left at a T junction at Burnbrae. After passing a couple of houses, the road crosses fields and heads a little south of east right the way across the middle of the former Balado Airfield. The airfield is one of the many built during World War Two, and it resulted in the temporary severance of the route (see below). As re-instated, the route now follows a long straight as it crosses diagonally across the former runways, which are now covered in the large sheds of a chicken farm. At the far end, it passes a couple of blocks of trees, then turns to head south one more, quickly meeting the A977 at a T junction between Balado village and the M90 motorway.

The B918 multiplexes east with the A977 for about half a mile to the Kinross Junction of the M90, and then has a very short multiplex with the A922 along Station Road to the next roundabout. Here the A922 turns right and the B918 continues ahead towards Kinross town centre along Station Road. At first the houses are set back behind green spaces, but as the road heads into town it is passing older detached villas in big gardens. Outside the church, the road kinks left at a fork and continues the short distance to end on the B996, High Street at a mini roundabout.

History

The B918 becomes an airfield

The original route of the B918 only consisted of the Balado section of the current route, connecting the A91 to the then-B910. Even when the B910 was upgraded to the A977, the route remained the same. However, during the war and for several years after, the bulk of the route was closed off to make way for the construction of an airfield. The 1960 OS one inch sheet shows just a tiny stub of the route remaining as a B road, running south from the A91 to the first junction at Burnbrae. Curiously, the 1948 sheet, and quarter inch sheets from the 1950s show the B918 still in place, although it has to be remembered that the OS often didn't show sensitive military sites during the 1940s and 50s. the 1967 Quarter Inch map does not show the road, however the 1969 one inch and quarter inch both show that the B918 has been re-instated to its pre-war route.

In the early 1970s, the M90 Kinross bypass was opened and so roads within the town were downgraded and re-numbered. The A977 was curtailed at the new Kinross Junction, and the A922 extended the short distance to meet it. The old A90 through Kinross itself was downgraded to be the B996, and the connecting route along Station Road became an extension of the B918. Careful examination of old maps shows that the A977 had originally been routed along the narrow and windy Junction Road, now called Swansacre, which forks right where Station Road bears left, to reach the High Street further south. However, it appears that the route was moved prior to the renumbering.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Junction with B910 - Carnbo