A77: Ayr to Stranraer
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A77: Ayr to Stranraer
The A77 is the main road between Glasgow and Belfast however between Ayr and Stranraer (A good 60-or-so miles) is well below any uselfull standard. It is a poor-quality S2 and really needs to be upgarded.
NOTE: Poll does not include Ayr bypass (ie. between A719 and A79)
NOTE: Poll does not include Ayr bypass (ie. between A719 and A79)
Last edited by Gavin A74 on Sat Nov 10, 2007 19:10, edited 1 time in total.
Should probably be just Dualled properly, with hard shoulders. However, this probably mean it would be a Scottish standard of motorway. However this would mean that the bit from the M77 as it stands to Ayr should also be Motorway. It would be a large Motorway...
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- scynthius726
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Do you mean with at-grade jucntions when you say "just dualled properly"? Scottish motorway standard may be below the rest of the UK but it doesn't include at-grade junctions as far as I know...sheeldz wrote:Should probably be just Dualled properly, with hard shoulders. However, this probably mean it would be a Scottish standard of motorway.
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- haymansafc
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Personally, I feel a good quality D2 with decent GSJ's would be enough for this section of road. At the moment, it's a relatively poor S2 and does need a decent upgrade. I feel a motorway would be taking things a little too far. I'd even happily accept a D2 with at grade junctions with provisions for full GSJ's if required in the future for the first step. Realistically, I think an at grade D2 will be about the best to hope for.
No no, I meant with GSJ. I suppose that means above Scottish Dualing standards. Ha.scynthius726 wrote:Do you mean with at-grade jucntions when you say "just dualled properly"? Scottish motorway standard may be below the rest of the UK but it doesn't include at-grade junctions as far as I know...sheeldz wrote:Should probably be just Dualled properly, with hard shoulders. However, this probably mean it would be a Scottish standard of motorway.
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- flyingscot
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Being as this road serves a remote backwater although D2 GSJ would be nice I don't think it would be money well spent. Instead the best compromise would be WS2 with LILO junctions and GSJs at the more important junctions.
Alternating overtaking lanes won't do as there's potential for frustration when stuck behind traffic on the single lane side. Also the advantage of two wide lanes vs S2+1 is to allow opportunistic overtaking so preventing a long line of cars hogging the overtaking lane.
Alternating overtaking lanes won't do as there's potential for frustration when stuck behind traffic on the single lane side. Also the advantage of two wide lanes vs S2+1 is to allow opportunistic overtaking so preventing a long line of cars hogging the overtaking lane.
How would you like your grade separations, Sir?
Big and complex.
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- SouthWest Philip
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WS2 is all very well until the road becomes remotely busy, like the A303 Ilminster bypass, after which point it just becomes dangerous. (I know, no such thing as dangerous roads, only dangerous drivers.)Truvelo wrote:Also the advantage of two wide lanes vs S2+1 is to allow opportunistic overtaking so preventing a long line of cars hogging the overtaking lane.
I think an S2+1, or a dual carriageway, would be preferable even if it had a few roundabouts along the way. I suppose something like the A43 between the M40 and M1, but without the dominent flows crossing over each other at one of the roundabouts!
- PeterA5145
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Surely the best solution would be the "permissive" form of S2+1 (still seen in some places) that gives one direction priority (usually uphill) but still allows overtaking in the other direction.Truvelo wrote:Alternating overtaking lanes won't do as there's potential for frustration when stuck behind traffic on the single lane side. Also the advantage of two wide lanes vs S2+1 is to allow opportunistic overtaking so preventing a long line of cars hogging the overtaking lane.
How busy is the A77 south of Ayr anyway? Apart from the ferry traffic I would have thought it was fairly quiet - Maybole, Girvan, Ballantrae and Stranraer between them can't have more than 25,000 people.
Possibly another option would be to build dual-carriageway bypasses of Maybole, Girvan and Ballantrae to provide at least some overtaking opportunities.
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A77: Ayr to Stranraer
Make it a Grade separated D2 in the parts where needed, and have a mixture of D2 and S2 on the less busy sections
Not sure south of Girvan, but from Ayr to Girvan can get busy.PeterA5145 wrote:How busy is the A77 south of Ayr anyway? Apart from the ferry traffic I would have thought it was fairly quiet - Maybole, Girvan, Ballantrae and Stranraer between them can't have more than 25,000 people.
Even though not huge populations there is a lot of decent sized villages and a few towns, and Ayr for a lot of people acts as the principle location to work in. There is a lot of people commuting this route between Girvan and Ayr.
Ferry traffic can make the road very busy, even at 9 o clock at night can see a large convoy of HGV's.
Not sure about from Girvan to Stranrear, but imagine can be very busy at times considering Stranrear is one of the large ferry crossings to NI.
I think the M77 should continue from Kilmarnock to Ayr, the new WHitletts roundabout i think was a waste of cash, the junction should be grade seperarated due to the large amount of traffic and the fact with housebuilding and retail parks, lesuire centres next to this roundabout just going to get a lot busier.
Id say D2 from Ayr to Girvan with roundabouts rather than grade seperated junctions. Well for the main junctions like for access to Maybole, Girvan etc..
The rest of the route upgrade the existing S2 route try to remove the worst bends etc....
- coasterjunkie
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My heart says motorway (which I voted for), but my head says dual carriageway with some GSJ.
Realistically, if they did do something with this road, I can't imagine the standard being any higher than the A90 Perth to Aberdeen road which is dualled for it's entire length with the important junctions being GSJ but with all the minor ones being at-grade.
Personally, I've always felt that road should be full GSJ or motorway, but that's another topic...
Realistically, if they did do something with this road, I can't imagine the standard being any higher than the A90 Perth to Aberdeen road which is dualled for it's entire length with the important junctions being GSJ but with all the minor ones being at-grade.
Personally, I've always felt that road should be full GSJ or motorway, but that's another topic...
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I would like a dual carridgeway as a minimum - to the standard of the old A74 at least (with at grade junctions). Don't think the traffic levels would justify GSJ's.
I think it would be more likely though that they would choose to upgrade the existing road from Dumfries to Stranraer as beeing cheaper and easier.
Also need to remember that feries will no longer be leaving from Stranraer but will in future leave from Cairnryan.
I think it would be more likely though that they would choose to upgrade the existing road from Dumfries to Stranraer as beeing cheaper and easier.
Also need to remember that feries will no longer be leaving from Stranraer but will in future leave from Cairnryan.
Re: A77: Ayr to Stranraer
Transport Minister views progress of A77 on South Ayrshire tour
13 July 2011
The completion of a £5.5m construction scheme will significantly improve safety on a key Ayrshire route said Transport Minister Keith Brown today.
Transport Minister Keith Brown visits
the site
The A77 Parkend – Bennane scheme, now open to traffic, provides dedicated overtaking opportunities in both directions across almost 2 miles (1.8 miles/ 3km), just north of Ballantrae.
The Minister visited the site as one of a number of engagements in South Ayrshire, also meeting with Adam Ingram, MSP, at Maybole to discuss the bypass.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said:
“I am pleased to see the completion of these works on this key route, which links our west coast ports to the rest of Scotland, and is a clear example of our commitment to the A77.
“Through this investment and these improved overtaking opportunities, we are ensuring more reliable and safer journeys for local communities and tourists, as well as heavy goods traffic.
“This supports long term sustainable economic growth across south west Scotland and beyond.
“We also recognise the importance of the Maybole Bypass to both Maybole residents and businesses as well as the wider links to the Loch Ryan Ports and will look for opportunities to progress it when funding becomes available.”
The A77 links the west coast ports to the rest of Scotland and this project is one of a number of upgrades on this key route.
The contract to build this Transport Scotland funded project was awarded to RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd.
This scheme is part of £60 million of planned investment along the A77 and A75, and complements £35 million already invested on these routes.
The 86 mile long A77 is a main link for south west communities and businesses, and this section of the route carries up to 3000 vehicles a day.
http://mobile.transportscotland.gov.uk/ ... completion
13 July 2011
The completion of a £5.5m construction scheme will significantly improve safety on a key Ayrshire route said Transport Minister Keith Brown today.
Transport Minister Keith Brown visits
the site
The A77 Parkend – Bennane scheme, now open to traffic, provides dedicated overtaking opportunities in both directions across almost 2 miles (1.8 miles/ 3km), just north of Ballantrae.
The Minister visited the site as one of a number of engagements in South Ayrshire, also meeting with Adam Ingram, MSP, at Maybole to discuss the bypass.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said:
“I am pleased to see the completion of these works on this key route, which links our west coast ports to the rest of Scotland, and is a clear example of our commitment to the A77.
“Through this investment and these improved overtaking opportunities, we are ensuring more reliable and safer journeys for local communities and tourists, as well as heavy goods traffic.
“This supports long term sustainable economic growth across south west Scotland and beyond.
“We also recognise the importance of the Maybole Bypass to both Maybole residents and businesses as well as the wider links to the Loch Ryan Ports and will look for opportunities to progress it when funding becomes available.”
The A77 links the west coast ports to the rest of Scotland and this project is one of a number of upgrades on this key route.
The contract to build this Transport Scotland funded project was awarded to RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd.
This scheme is part of £60 million of planned investment along the A77 and A75, and complements £35 million already invested on these routes.
The 86 mile long A77 is a main link for south west communities and businesses, and this section of the route carries up to 3000 vehicles a day.
http://mobile.transportscotland.gov.uk/ ... completion
Re: A77: Ayr to Stranraer
If a motorway bridge between Stranraer and Northern Ireland were to be built (and there was some talk of such a thing relatively recently) it would maybe make most sense for the motorway on the Scottish side to extend to the A702 junction on the M74 (or thereabouts).
This is obviously a less direct route to Glasgow than simply linking up with the existing M77 would be, but it would have two key benefits: (1) traffic to Edinburgh and the North bypasses Glasgow; and (2) you also provide a fairly direct route to England.
Of course, ideally you would build two motorways (an M77 to Glasgow and an M75 to Gretna) but if there wasn't the budget for that it would make more sense to come up with a compromise solution than it would to concentrate on one route and abandon the other.
This is obviously a less direct route to Glasgow than simply linking up with the existing M77 would be, but it would have two key benefits: (1) traffic to Edinburgh and the North bypasses Glasgow; and (2) you also provide a fairly direct route to England.
Of course, ideally you would build two motorways (an M77 to Glasgow and an M75 to Gretna) but if there wasn't the budget for that it would make more sense to come up with a compromise solution than it would to concentrate on one route and abandon the other.
Re: A77: Ayr to Stranraer
There's some hills in the way of that! You'll end up either going near Dumfries or Cumnock to reach the '74, so you may as well just build the M77. The A75 could just be a decent DC.jackal wrote:If a motorway bridge between Stranraer and Northern Ireland were to be built (and there was some talk of such a thing relatively recently) it would maybe make most sense for the motorway on the Scottish side to extend to the A702 junction on the M74 (or thereabouts).
If it weren't for the hills, an Edinburgh - Stranraer M7 would have been a nice way to link to the Stranraer - Larne bridge (linking to a Larne - Airport - Moira - Newry motorway in NI). Of course 220 miles of motorway, including a 20 mile bridge wouldn't have come cheap!
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Re: A77: Ayr to Stranraer
Having driven from Ayr to Cairnryan a few times recently and with my realistic head on I'd settle for: dualling / grade separation around Ayr as far as Maybole; Maybole northern bypass with climbing lanes; Girvan bypass with overtaking opportunity; and a few other WS2+1 sections south of Turnberry including Dowhill to Chapeldonan and Ardwell to Slockenray and a couple more south of Ballantrae.
Re: A77: Ayr to Stranraer
No more so than there were hills in the way of the A74(M).si404 wrote:There's some hills in the way of that!
The majority of the Ayr bypass should be dualled and grade separated. However, traffic falls off significantly at the A713 junction (the DfT say from 22,000 to 15,000) and further still to 12,000 at the A79 junction. At those volumes grade separation at the A79 junction can't really be justified, and S2+1 would be reasonable between Ayr and Maybole. I broadly agree with the suggestions for further south.m80 wrote:Having driven from Ayr to Cairnryan a few times recently and with my realistic head on I'd settle for: dualling / grade separation around Ayr as far as Maybole; Maybole northern bypass with climbing lanes; Girvan bypass with overtaking opportunity; and a few other WS2+1 sections south of Turnberry including Dowhill to Chapeldonan and Ardwell to Slockenray and a couple more south of Ballantrae.