A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

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J--M--B
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A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by J--M--B »

In today's Scotsman.
Could the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Published Date: 14 October 2010

A NOTORIOUS road where campaigners have been fighting a long campaign for improvements has been named as the best in Britain in a new study.

Experts drove a specially adapted car the length and breadth of the UK to examine road conditions and the physical effects they had on drivers.

The A82 from Glasgow to Fort William was found to be Britain's best road, while the M1 at Sheffield was the worst.

The M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow, unpopular with many Scottish motorists, was voted third worst.

But one campaigner said the praise for the A82 was "totally absurd" and questioned the methodology used.................
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by J--M--B »

Says a lot about the survey that another paper has a complete opposite headline!

Daily Record
Scotland's scenic A82 named best road in Britain

Oct 14 2010 David Taylor

A ROAD once branded the UK's most dangerous has been named as Britain's best.

The A82 Glasgow to Fort William was given the accolade after months of research by a team of professionals helped out by celebrity chef and motoring fan James Martin................
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by Ritchie333 »

What do you think yourself, J-M-B?

I haven't been on the A82 that often, but it seems to serve its purpose well enough, although sections from Fort William to Inverness don't come up to the same quality as the A9 over the Cairngorms, or indeed the A87 west to Kyle.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Best in terms of what? Scenery? Quite possibly! Variety? Maybe!
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by Helvellyn »

Can't see how it can get into either category to be honest. The windy section along Loch Lomond is a little frustrating but hardly to any extreme (although I can imagine it must be awful at the busiest tourist times). Some parts of it are great, particularly over Rannoch Moor.

Last time I drove along it though quite a lot of it was in a very poor condition, particularly between Tarbet and Crianlarich.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by michael769 »

Depends a lot on when you make the trip.

I once drove it on new years morning when it was deserted apart from a Traffic Patrol which eventually slowed to 30mph to get me to overtake them :D, and it was a great wee run.

On the other hand get stuck behind a dutch camper van doing 30mph (20 on the bends) on a busy summers afternoon and it is a pretty awful grind.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by haymansafc »

Whilst I'm certainly no local, I am familiar with much of the A82 from my various Scotland breaks and holidays over the last ten years. I've always found it to be generally a very good driver's road and plenty of variety.

As for the M8 being mentioned...now, that I can understand...!

I can see the A82 being dangerous in several places - Tarbet immediately springs to mind. I don't think anyone who knows the road will deny that at least some of it would benefit from upgrading. There are also sections which are in need of resurfacing. There is also no doubt the A9 is superior as a long distance route. The A82 as Britain's worst road though? Sorry, I respectfully disagree with that entirely. There are plenty of worse roads in Scotland alone.

The problem with the Tarbet section is that it uses a much earlier alignment and certainly isn't designed to cope with modern traffic conditions - particularly coaches or HGV's. From my own experiences, this section is generally fine out of season and positively deserted at night. However, the problem I find is that people travel far too fast along it given the poor visibility and if two large wagons/coaches end up approaching in opposite directions, it can be a case of slowing to a near-standstill. The tight 'S' bend with the railway bridge at Crianlarich can also be hairy.

I very much doubt anyone could deny the A82 as being amongst the very best on the mainland in terms of stunning scenery, as is the A87 and A93 in the Cairngorms which are also impressive. The A82 as 'best' overall road? No, I don't agree with that either.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by nick_dunn »

Helvellyn wrote:The windy section along Loch Lomond is a little frustrating but hardly to any extreme (although I can imagine it must be awful at the busiest tourist times).
Maybe you've tried this, but the A814 via Helensburgh is worth a try from Dumbarton to the A83/Tarbet. 6 miles further than the A82 route according to Google. I found it very useful avoiding rock festival traffic at Loch Lomond.

I love the A82. Going north I try and hit it at about dawn from Erskine Bridge when hopefully there's not much about. It's a road that can be what you want it to be - a driver's road or just plod along looking at the scenery. I try to do both (though not necessarily at the same time).
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by Burns »

It's hard to rate a road like the A82. Since I live in Dundee I've always used the A9 to head north (except once where I had to go to Glasgow first requiring the use of the A82) so I've only driven it as a long distance route once. The rest of the time has been for short hop journeys, for example between Spean Bridge and Invergarry.

My main observations on it is that it jumps around in standard a lot. Especially around Loch Lomond. The section across Rannoch Moor is also a lot of fun and so far the only road where I've been able to overtake 6 cars at once. The section just south of Fort William though is horrible and I've never been able to drive that any faster than 40mph due to the speed of traffic around there.

As for it being the worst road, it's certainly not. It's a very enjoyable road to drive in places but other bits are extremely frustrating. I can think of far more annoying roads near me. Not looking in North Fife's direction at all...
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by rileyrob »

As someone who has spent the last five years living within 100m of the A82, I naturally use it a fair bit! It is simultaneously a fantastic and awful road. One example will probably explain:
Last time I headed south to Glasgow I sailed across Rannoch Moor with some other cars, overtaking slower stuff without any problem, and happened to glance at the speedo to see I was the wrong side of 80. I eased off and let the car behind pass to keep up with the other traffic. I then had a clear run down through Tyndrum, Crianlarich and onto Loch Lomondside.
Just before reaching the traffic lights I found some stationary traffic. There was a coach at the front sitting so far back from the lights that they couldn't see him. After several blasts from various horns one guy got out of the car and braved the narrow road to inform the coach driver of his error. I don't think we exceeded 25 mph all the way to Tarbet.
After seeing some other cars making overtaking moves ahead, one even passing the coach, I started to edge forward - not that difficult when you're passing stuff at 15mph. Coming back along the same stretch two days later, I didn't meet a single thing (9pm), and sailed straight up not dropping much below 50.
So, simultaneously a fantastic and awful road.

I've had similar, if faster experiences all the way from here to Inverness at various times. But at the end of the day, the worst bit (ie least enjoyable, slowest for standard of road, worst scenery etc) IMV is Balloch - Tarbet. That sections seems to be just one long queue at 45mph from 10am to 6pm.

I don't know how anyone could claim this is the best road though. The A83, A830, A87 are all far better!
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by flyingscot »

nick_dunn wrote:
Helvellyn wrote:The windy section along Loch Lomond is a little frustrating but hardly to any extreme (although I can imagine it must be awful at the busiest tourist times).
Maybe you've tried this, but the A814 via Helensburgh is worth a try from Dumbarton to the A83/Tarbet. 6 miles further than the A82 route according to Google. I found it very useful avoiding rock festival traffic at Loch Lomond.

I love the A82. Going north I try and hit it at about dawn from Erskine Bridge when hopefully there's not much about. It's a road that can be what you want it to be - a driver's road or just plod along looking at the scenery. I try to do both (though not necessarily at the same time).
A814 through Dumbarton and Cardross to Helensburgh- can be yuk. Horrible traffic at times on that road. Similarly the A814 is a bit bouncy, I'd only go that way if there were delays around Loch Lomond.

Used the A82 all the way from Inverness as the A9 can be dull. Not a bad road, but can be if traffic is heavy. I like the stretch from Fort William to Inverness to be honest.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by jcpren »

J--M--B wrote:In today's Scotsman.
Could the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Published Date: 14 October 2010

A NOTORIOUS road where campaigners have been fighting a long campaign for improvements has been named as the best in Britain in a new study.
Just a mistake in the headline, surely? :? That would explain the apparent difference with the Daily Record's story.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by J--M--B »

jcpren wrote:Just a mistake in the headline, surely? :? That would explain the apparent difference with the Daily Record's story.
But one campaigner said the praise for the A82 was "totally absurd" and questioned the methodology used.................
I think they are quoting the campaigner, the report does seem to be very dodgy and trying to measure whether someone on a one-off drive on the road thought it was a pleasant drive. They used a cook, perhaps someone boiling an egg might find it pleasant but think differently after doing the same thing dozens of times without proper cooking equipment.

I presume the "investigation" was done for a TV programme, things like that usually seem to done for TV.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by pjkh »

I think it's a great, fun road to drive on. At least the Rannoch Moor and Glencoe bits are. The bits down the side of Loch Lomond are terrible nowadays. Yes, it was a slow road before, but the views made up for it. Now it's long sweeping bends with no visibility and few overtaking opportunities. And if you do, McPlod is likely to get you.
I grew up in that bit of the world, and every time I go back there, I'm reminded about how great the roads are to drive on, and how generally poor quality they are. I've got used to the South now, and although the roads are generally much better, they're also clogged, ruined by daft speed limits, and generally no fun whatsoever.
Having said that, I understand that people still use these roads to commute etc. and that must be a pain, especially given the number of tourists too busy looking at mountains instead of the road.

The M8 is another matter. I despise that road. Went out with a girl the other end of it for a year and I got so sick of it I ended up using the M876/M9 instead. Longer, but less traffic and different scenery. That was nearly 20 years ago and I still avoid the M8.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by Mark Hewitt »

rileyrob wrote: So, simultaneously a fantastic and awful road.
Nearly all S2 roads are great when there's no other traffic on them. Nearly all are terrible when you're stuck behind someone!
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by euan1982 »

I've used the A82 between Glasgow & Crianlarich a few times & I love it. The scenery is fantastic & there are plety of overtaking oportunities if you know where to look for them. For me, twisty S2 roads are what driving is all about.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road?

Post by GrahamP »

I certainly don't disagree strongly with the survey - the Glencoe road (M9+A84+A85+A82) and M90+A9 are the two routes I drive reasonably frequently, and the Glencoe road is infinitely preferable, to the point where if I'm going somewhere beyond Spean Bridge I'll take the Glencoe Road even though it takes about 15 minutes longer.

The survey seems to have considered potholes to be a good thing, however, which seems a bit bizarre. Unless it's been misreported.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road

Post by J--M--B »

There is something in one of the local papers (can't find it online) about the meeting recently about the A82 improvements at Pulpit Rock and Crianlarich bypass.

It seemed to suggest (from memory) that the Crianlarich is being postponed as not as important as the work at Pulpit Rock. There were a lot of worries about the proposed long closure of the A82 at Pulpit Rock so they seem to have been sent away to have another think.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road

Post by Tony_A470 »

I've only driven on the A82 once, I couldn't believe how shocking the Loch Lomond section was - for a while I was convinced I'd taken a wrong turn and ended up on a B road. The amount of coaches and caravans coming the other way didn't help either, I found it a really unpleasant slog. It's a great drive beyond Crianlarich, but I assume anyone who claims it to be the "best" road hasn't been on the A87 - just as scenic but with less traffic and no substandard sections, beats the A82 hands down in every respect.
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Re: A82 from Glasgow to Fort William be Britain's worst road

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Tony_A470 wrote:I've only driven on the A82 once, I couldn't believe how shocking the Loch Lomond section was - for a while I was convinced I'd taken a wrong turn and ended up on a B road. The amount of coaches and caravans coming the other way didn't help either, I found it a really unpleasant slog. It's a great drive beyond Crianlarich, but I assume anyone who claims it to be the "best" road hasn't been on the A87 - just as scenic but with less traffic and no substandard sections, beats the A82 hands down in every respect.
Totally agree. If you want a major road which is simply stunning from start to finish, then the A87 wins hands down!
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