A876
A876 | |||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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Clackmannanshire Bridge | |||||||||||||
From: | Bowtrees (NS905858) | ||||||||||||
To: | Kilbagie (NS932905) | ||||||||||||
Distance: | 4 miles (6.4 km) | ||||||||||||
Meets: | M876, A905, A985, A977 | ||||||||||||
Former Number(s): | A977 | ||||||||||||
Old route now: | B905, A88, A985 | ||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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For the former A876 along the Great Western Road in Glasgow, see A876 (Glasgow).
The A876 is a short but important route in Central Scotland, and has seen a significant amount of change over the years.
Route
The road begins at the end of the M876 at the rebuilt J3 (Bowtrees Interchange). The interchange was formerly a flat roundabout, but the M876 now flows overhead directly onto the A876. The A876 continues as a dual carriageway for approximately one mile, before ending on a new roundabout just before the old Kincardine Bridge. This roundabout allows traffic to continue into Kincardine along the old bridge, now numbered A985, or north along the 2008-built Clackmannanshire Bridge, which is now the main route of the A876, relieving Kincardine of much of the traffic that formerly plagued the town.
The road continues over the new bridge, with both the bridge and the new link road leading up to the A977 roundabout being built to WS2+1 standard. Southbound traffic has two lanes over the bridge, with the priority swapping north of the bridge so that northbound traffic gets a chance to overtake up the hill before the road terminates at the new Kilbagie Roundabout with the A977, where travellers can turn left for Clackmannan, the county town of Clackmannanshire, or right for Kincardine.
North Approach Road
Although the Kincardine Bridge became part of the A985 on the opening of the Clackmannanshire Bridge, a small section of the A876 appears to remain through the town of Kincardine on the Northern Approach Road between the A985 and A977. This section does not appear on maps (with the exception of Google) but green road signs and Transport Scotland documentation gives it the A876 number. Indeed, some of this signage suggests that the Kincardine Bridge is also still the A876, although it is numbered as A985 everywhere else.
History
The current incarnation of the A876 came into being after World War II when the A977 Kincardine Bridge Road was extended west of the A9 to provide better access to the A80. An 8-zone number was therefore required and the A876 took over that road's route.
Starting on the A803 at Bonnybridge the road headed northeast to Larbert, part of which is now the A8004 and then the B905. It then multiplexed north along the A9 for a short distance before running eastwards along the present A88 to another short multiplex with the A905, where the road reached what is now its western end. At Bonnybridge, large scale maps also show that the road continued further west to Dennyloanhead, with the short section of Bonnybridge Road from the current mini roundabout to the junction with Bypass Road identified as the A876, while the A803 followed Bypass Road. The resulting multiplex is not numbered.
In 1965 (opened on 13 October 1965) the A876 was moved onto the Bonnybridge Bypass, which on 22 May 1974 become the M876 as far as J2. The A8004 and B905 appear to have come into existence at the same time, and the Checkbar Junction was built in its current shape. However, what is now the Glenbervie Interchange / J2 was initially a flat roundabout with the A9, so removing the former multiplex, as the A876 continued ahead along what is now the A88. A roundabout was installed at what was the northern end of the M9 for a while, but this has since been replaced by a bridge without a junction. The road across the Kincardine Bridge was still very busy as it was the first un-tolled road to cross the Firth of Forth by a bridge, meaning that the A876 remained an important strategic route. The multiplex section with the A905 was probably dualled around this time.
In the late 1970s, the A876 was upgraded to become the M876, extended eastwards, and completely opened in early 1980, thus removing the strategic importance of the old A876 past Stenhousemuir. For this reason, the section between the A9 and A905 was bizzarely renumbered as the more important sounding, but out of zone A88. The shortened A876 therefore started where the M876 ended and where the old multiplex with the A905 ended. The road was S2, out-of-zone (as explained above), straight and very busy as it crossed the Kincardine Bridge, ending on the A977 after passing through Kincardine.
In 2008 the Clackmannanshire Bridge was opened, and the A876 was rerouted across it, as it was now deemed the more important route. The old Kincardine Bridge became an extension of the A985 which continues across South Fife to Dunfermline and the M90.
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