A8015 - incorrect ending location?

[dereer]

The A8015 in Tarbert, Scotland is currently described on SABRE Wiki as continuing all the way down Pier Road to end at a bench. However, Argyll and Bute Council's road list (https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/sites/de ... rea_ac.pdf) states that the A8015 ends at the "steamer pier" (this appears to be the old pier described in the article) while the road ahead to the bench is most likely unclassified road 26 (the A8015's page even has a picture of a sign that reads UC26!)

EDIT: I am not sure what the official situation is as I am still not entirely familiar with UK road numbering, but I believe that county councils are at least somewhat responsible for A-road numbers.

[rileyrob]

This is what happens when something is so obvious that no one bothers to check!! The OS have ALWAYS marked the full length of the route as being the A8015, right to the bench. The oldest map to show the number at a suitable scale is the 1956 One Inch sheet, but even the 1961 Quarter Inch sheet shows the tick up at the end. There are no old 1:25,000 or larger scale maps available online that I can find to check, but the modern OS base layer used by Scotlis etc also shows the A8015 for the full extent of Pier Road, numbering it at the east end. Even the modern OS maps show the route to the very end.

The UC26 sign is a bit of a Red Herring. A&B Council in their infinite wisdom restart the numbering of UC roads in each 'area'. So the UC26 for Kintyre is apparently the east end of the erstwhile A8015, while the UC26 for Cowal is the Portavadie Road on the other side of the ferry, which is the road referred to in the sign.

The council list should be definitive, so I will make a note on the Wiki, but I'm not actually convinced on this occasion.

[Steven]

Yep, as rileyrob mentions, the OS think that the A8015 goes right to the Landing Stage pretty much.

[Alderpoint]

I do notice that the Barts Half Inch 1940-47 map shows the A road terminating at the pier, with the remaining section unclassigied.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=192&b=1

But that was about 80 years ago....

Also https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=172&b=1

[Steven]

I do notice that the Barts Half Inch 1940-47 map shows the A road terminating at the pier, with the remaining section unclassigied.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=192&b=1

But that was about 80 years ago....

Also https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=172&b=1

Neither of which match the 1945 OS Popular Edition of Scotland that we have here.

On your second link, it's important to note that Popular Edition maps pre-1935 were concerned with road width and not classification as their importance differentiator, so it cannot be relied on at all for classification queries.

[Summers-lad]

I do notice that the Barts Half Inch 1940-47 map shows the A road terminating at the pier, with the remaining section unclassigied.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=192&b=1

But that was about 80 years ago....

Also https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=1 ... rs=172&b=1

Neither of which match the 1945 OS Popular Edition of Scotland that we have here.

On your second link, it's important to note that Popular Edition maps pre-1935 were concerned with road width and not classification as their importance differentiator, so it cannot be relied on at all for classification queries.

Similarly, the red on Barts half-inch maps meant "recommended through routes" and didn't relate to classification, even when numbers were shown. There were quite a few red B roads and yellow A roads. In the 1970s the colours gradually came in line with the classifications, often as A roads in the Highlands were double-tracked.

[Chris Bertram]

Bart's really did march to their own drum back in the day. It was a very distinctive approach to road mapping, but in some ways, basing the colouring on the standard of the route rather than the number, it's similar to Michelin's mapping of France, where D roads can be anything from a narrow rural road to a grade-separated highway.