This article is about the former A817 in Lochgilphead. For the current A817 to Garelochhead, see A817.
The original northern end of the A817
The 1922 Road Lists state that the A817 was a link at Lochgilphead, and we now know that this was the current route of the A816 along the western edge of the town. The last map found so far to explicitly mark the A817 is the 1981 OS Routemaster map, although earlier maps seem to omit the A816 route through town. The A817 had certainly become the Trunk Route in the 1940s. Maps from later in the 1960s show the A816 splitting at the northern edge of the town, one arm running along the current route, and the other following Bishopton Road, Oban Road and Argyll Street; this route through the town was the original route of the A816, but the other arm is no longer marked as the A817, so it is not clear whether the number survived until the A816 was rerouted, or if it had already become a spur.
There are a number of signs along the former A817 in Lochgilphead which show evidence of patching, suggesting that where they now say A816 they once read A817. This again suggests that the A817 survived until at least 1981 when it is still shown by the OS, if not a lot more recently. It had certainly ceased to exist by 1995 when the A817 number was re-used, but more definitive dating evidence has not yet been found.