B977

The B977 is a long B-road which curves through the countryside to the north west of Aberdeen. It has the feeling of a route that has been cobbled together a bit, and indeed not less that four other B roads were sacrificed in the making of the B977!

Route

Banchory - Kintore

The Birks, heading north to Echt

The route starts at a TOTSO junction on the A980 (former B976 at Raemoir House, about a mile to the north of Banchory. It heads north eastwards for a couple of miles across undulating fields before entering some patchy forestry on the fringes of a much larger plantation. The road dips down through the trees and then meets the B9125 at another TOTSO junction, where it turns left, passing a large industrial site screened by trees. Now heading northwards, past 'The Birks' the route winds over the eastern flank of Meikle Tap (a mountain) before descending to Echt, the first village encountered. So far the route has been largely rural, with a mixture of fields and forest and a steady scattering of roadside farms and houses.

Echt is not a large village, even with the large new housing estate on the eastern approach, and the B977 is quickly through. It approaches past Fairview Cottages to a crossroads where it crosses the B9119, and just as quickly leaves the village behind, continuing north. The route now skirts the eastern flanks of Barmekin Hill, winding northwards as it rises and falls across the gently valleys that cut into the hill. Turning to the north east, the road curves around the old grounds of Dunecht House, with a rather grand entrance flanked by lodges standing along amongst the trees and fields. A winding descent then leads down to the A944 at Dunecht, where there is a short multiplex east through the village before the B977 regains its number by turning left. Dunecht is even smaller than Echt, and consists of little more than a single street of Estate houses.

The village is quickly left behind, and the route curves round to head north east once more across fields to reach the next village, Lyne of Skerne. Here the B9126 turns off to the right, with most of this tiny settlement lying off to the left, while the B977 continues ahead, running northeastwards across gently undulating, but otherwise unremarkable farmland for a few more miles before reaching a roundabout on the B994. At first a few farms stand alone, but then they form clusters with houses, with Leylodge almost large enough to be a village. On the far side of the roundabout, the route follows the straight Gauchhill Road in towards Kintore, meeting the A96 at a north-facing half-diamond interchange. Southbound traffic can use the B994 to reach a roundabout at the south end of the bypass.

Another roundabout provides access to a housing estate, and then Guachhill Road continues straight on to meet the B987 at a T-junction. As seems to be quite often the case in Aberdeenshire, there is a bit of confusion at this junction, which marks the original end of the B977. All three arms are signed as the B977, although School Road to the right is the southern end of the B987, following the pre-bypass A96 route. At the far end it is, at least, signed as (B977). The two routes continue north in a multiplex along School Road towards the town centre.

Kintore - Balmedie

Kintore Level Crossing

In the town centre, the B977 has to TOTSO yet again, turning right onto Kingsfield Road in front of the church, leaving the B987 to continue north past the shops. Another TOTSO turns the route left onto Bridge Road which, ironically crosses the Aberdeen to Inverness railway line at a level crossing, however it is the Don Bridge over the River Don which gives the road its name. The town doesn't cross the river, so after a few sharper bends the B977 heads east across fields, following the Don downstream. Presently it reaches Hatton of Fintray and the B979. Despite yet another TOTSO, the B977 is the dominant partner in a multiplex with the B979 as they head north along Station Road. After turning east, the route has to negotiate a narrow bridge before heading out of the village.

Heading west from the old A947 route

The road heads north and climbs out of the valley before bending right across the hillside to continue downstream. After another mile or so the B979 turns off to the left and the B977, continues east, dropping steadily down to Cothal, where it meets the River Don again. The river sits at the bottom of a steep wooded bank here, and seems to be slowly eating away below the road. Turning south east, river and road slowly diverge, and after a couple of bends the (relatively) new A90 bridge across the Don comes into view ahead. Soon after, the B977 bridges the A90 (the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route), briefly enjoying a new, wider alignment. A windy section then sees the B977 use a short length of the old A947 route under a footbridge carrying a path along a dismantled railway line (the original railway bridge has fairly obviously been replaced).

The route then meets the new line of the A947 at a signal-controlled crossroads, where traffic can left to join the northbound A90, or right to head into Dyce. The B977 continues straight ahead, again on a new alignment, which leads to a new roundabout which gives access to the A90 southbound. The old line of the B977 has been retained as a westbound filter lane for B977 traffic avoiding the roundabout, but eastbound traffic has to detour around the roundabout. Back on its original alignment, the B977 climbs up to Corsehill, where the B997 turns off to the right and the B977 continues ahead past a garden centre to cross the A90 once again. Where the B977 previously curved gently across a semi-wooded section of land, the road now TOTSOs to the right at a T-junction, an unclassified road running to the west to provide access to properties cut off from the south by the AWPR.

B977 TOTSO in Belhevie

The route now winds gently through the trees of Red Moss before a pair of sharper bends past Braehead lead to the B999. This is crossed at a staggered crossroads, after which the road dips across the Potterton Burn before climbing into Belhevie. To add to the feeling of a route which has been cobbled together, the B977 TOTSO left here to run along the main village street before leaving town and crossing a ridge. The road now makes a beeline for the coast - although the sea is only just visible from here - winding down through fields, but not for long. The final TOTSO is a new one, the B977 turning south along a new alignment which cuts across fields to meet the A90 at Belhalvie Junction. This dumbbell junction provides grade-separated access to the A90, replacing the former T-junction with central reservation gap a mile to the north.

The B977 then turns north at the eastern roundabout and follows the old A90 route along Old Aberdeen Road through Balmedie. For the most part this road is a wide tree lined route with few property accesses, showing its history as the original A90 bypass for Balmedie. Just before the speed limit ends, the B977 joins what was the A90 until 2017 and heads out across farmland to meet the A975 at Rashiereive Junction to the north. After a short multiplex westwards under the new A90, the B977 continues along the new service road, itself partly the old A90, to meet the B9000 at a roundabout at the Tipperty Junction. All of this section was added to the route in 2017 with the opening of the new dual carriageway.

History

As noted at the beginning, the B977 is a route which has been cobbled together by renumbering several other routes. Most of this was done in 1934, but the intervening years have not made the route any better. The original B977, as classified in 1922, started on the B976 at Raemoir near Banchory, and wound its way northwards to end on the A96 in Kintore. From Kintore to Hatton of Fintray the route was originally the B995, and then the B997 to Corsehill. The final section to Balmedie wasn't even classified in 1922, but by 1932 it had become the B9038.

Despite all of these changes to the numbering, the actual road hadn't changed a great deal since 1922. A couple of bends had been eased and some minor improvements at junctions had been carried out. The construction of the new A90 AWPR however, has seen substantial changes at the eastern end of the route, as partially noted above. The first bridge over the new road sits a little to the north of the old line, which has been partially removed, after which the junctions with the former A947 have both been relined, if not realigned. The crossroads with the new A947 is further north than the old line of the B977 ran, but then the old and new roads swap, and the B977 now runs parallel to, but south east of the old road which has been retained as property access.

The westbound roundabout bypass seems to be on the original line of the B977, which then wiggled off to the south, following the old stone wall. This realignment was, however, carried out long before the AWPR started construction. After recrossing the A90, the old road line can be seen curving with the treeline to the south east of the new T-junction, although more trees have been planted here, so this will be less obvious in the future. The final route change is on the approach to the A90, where the B977 used to continue ahead past the church to meet the dual carriageway at an at-grade staggered crossroads. This section of road has been closed up at the last house, and now forms part of a cycle route running alongside the new A90.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Junction with B976 N. of Banchory - Echt - Kintore
An official document from 16-5-1934 details the following changes: To be extended from Kintore to Balmedie over the line of Routes B995, B996 (part), B997 (part) and B9038 commencing at a junction with Route A96 (Inverness-Aberdeen) at Kintore about half a mile north of the present termination of route B977 and proceeding in a general easterly direction via Hatton of Fintray, Cothill, Garthy, Parkhill Station, Moss Side and Belhelvie to a junction with Route A92 (Inverkeithing-Fraserburgh) north of Balmedie.