B roads in Inverurie

[Summers-lad]

I've been looking at the pattern of B class roads in Inverurie, which is confusing. While the A96 came through the town centre, it was straightforward, with B9001 on Harlaw Road, B9170 coming in from Oldmeldrum and B993 coming in from Kemnay, multiplexing with A96 and heading out towards Whiterashes. (I'm ignoring earlier changes, i.e. A981 becoming B9170 and the pre-1932 extension of B993.)
My 1991 Landranger shows the whole of the former A96 as a B road (or roads), but doesn't show a number. This doesn't seem to have lasted long. Other B roads are as before except for a diversion of B993 to the so-called Inverurie Roundabout on the A96. The wiki page for B9001 says that for a time that number was moved away from Harlaw Road to follow North Road (ex-A96) into the town centre; I think this may be correct but I'm not sure, and I don't have any maps to confirm one way or the other. What I definitely remember is the road from the north end of Inverurie (coming in from Rothienorman) through to Morrison's supermarket near the A96 being signed as B9001, and the route from the A96 (at Blackhall Roundabout) past Morrisons and along Blackhall Road being signed as B9170. This is at least partially borne out by the GSV images I've looked at, and is in line with Aberdeenshire Council's 2017 recommendations for renumbering although significantly predating that report. Assuming that B993 became uninterrupted, this leaves the number of High Street and Harlaw Road (or North Road) uncertain. OS evidence indicates that (as in Banff, Fraserburgh and other places) Transport Scotland did not accept these recommendations.
Nowadays, coming off the A96 at Blackhall Roundabout, the sign shows B9170 and (B9001), and the left turn at Morrison's is signed as B9001 to Rothienorman and (B9170) to Oldmeldrum. GSV's October 2008 image at Morrisons shows B9170 straight ahead and (B9001) to the left. Presumably the current signage is due to the new link road on the north side of Inverurie.
The history section of the B9001 wiki stated that B9001 has reverted to its original Harlaw Road route following Aberdeenshire Council's 2017 review. While it certainly appears to still follow Harlaw Road, this is not what the review proposed, so I have amended that part of the wiki.
Google Maps shows B9170 extending up to Blackhall Roundabout, B9001 extending through the town centre to the junction with B993, and North Street as unclassified. While by no means the most logical pattern, this does seem to me to be the most likely.
Does anyone have any more information?

[rileyrob]

I spent quite a bit of time going over old maps etc before revising the page last year, and was pretty confident that I had it about right (sorry). The key maps giving the changes in 2017 are the OS 1:250k sheets available on Sabre Maps - 2016 shows the B9001 on the old A96 line and 2017 shows it back on Harlaw Road, the alternatives being shown as unclassified in each case. There were also documents on Aberdeenshire's Website, linked from another thread, which detailed the changes on maps and as far as I remember showed the move of the B9001 back onto Harlaw Road. These also gave the new numbers in Huntly and changes in Fraserburgh and elsewhere. I'll have a look later to see if they are still available.

Aberdeenshire have a terrible record on poor signage along the former A96, and elsewhere with several towns and villages having the wrong B road number on signage, or the brackets missing - nearby Kintore and Blackburn being particularly notable. I therefore felt that the current and historic signage as seen on GSV was unreliable.

[rileyrob]

Ok, so this is the old thread: viewtopic.php?t=40864 but the links no longer work, and I can't find the files quickly.

Looking through the council roadlists, which were last updated on 25/10/23 gets even more confusing. (you've probably already looked at these):
This document lists the following as 'see B9001'
Burghmuir Drive
North Street
Rothienorman Road
But Harlaw Road, Constitution Street and High Street are also referred to as B9001.

The definition of the B9001 in this document is pretty hopeless for accurately identifying the route:

B9001 Inverurie - Drum of Wartle - Rothienorman - Forgue Road
From route B9144 at Blackhall Road northwards via Drum of Wartle to District Boundary at Redburn, and from Newton of Thorneybank via Forgue to Route A97 at Bogniebrae

although it does suggest it doesn't use Harlaw Road, as Harlaw Road doesn't meet Blackhall Road.

In summary, I think that what I had written was based on the information given at the time, which has presumably been revised / updated on the council roads lists since. The creation of the B9144 and changes to the B9170 appear to be correct, but the B9001 seems to be mired in confusion (for me at least).

[Summers-lad]

Thanks for your replies Rob. I saved the Aberdeenshire road numbers review on my computer a while ago so was referring to it as I wrote. It's available at https://aberdeenshire.moderngov.co.uk/C ... 2017&Ver=2 I hadn't looked at the 1:250k maps so I've changed the wiki again around the bit where I'd written "it may have been moved".
I'm happy to be corrected on any other points!
I agree about Aberdeenshire's (and previously Grampian Region's) signage in general, although since 2000 or 2001, Councils haven't been responsible for signage on trunk roads. There are many places though, especially on unclassified roads, where when trying to follow a cross-country route, you're never shown the same destination twice.

[Summers-lad]

For me a key point about the road number review is that it contained proposals to submit to Transport Scotland for approval. The latest OS maps I've seen only show the changes near the AWPR and the minor rerouteing of B993 in Torphins as having been implemented, so either TS didn't approve the others, or they did but the Council didn't properly follow through with them. Or the OS may be wrong, but I think that's unlikely, as they seem to keep up with changes pretty well. Certainly the Council's road lists include the proposed changes.