A905
A905 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Grangemouth (NS957800) | |||
To: | Stirling (NS799930) | |||
Distance: | 15.5 miles (24.9 km) | |||
Meets: | A904, B9143, M9, A9, A88, M876, A876, B9124, A91, B8052 | |||
Primary Destinations | ||||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The A905 runs inland from Grangemouth to Stirling following the River Forth upstream.
Route
Through Grangemouth
Originally the route started on the A9 (now A803) in Redding, to the east of Falkirk town centre. However, this road was severed with the building of the M9 and so the A905 now starts on the A904 at the Inveravon Roundabout at the eastern edge of the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical complex. Whereas the A904 turns to the north-west and runs right through the middle of the complex, the A905 takes the more direct route to the west, skirting the southern boundary of the site. This is Wholeflats Road, and while the first couple of hundred metres follow the former B904 route, it has been fully upgraded to the same standard as the new line beyond, and is now a wide S2 road with some good straights between gentle curves. Midway along it crosses the River Avon, with left turns leading south to Old Polmont, and gated right turns providing access points to the refinery site.
This section of the route comes to an end at Wholeflats Roundabout, where the B9143 approaches from the right and the A905 turns sharp left, heading south along the dualled Inchyra Road. This is also a new build road, which leads to the Cadgers Brae Roundabout, Junction 5 of the M9 and now the start of the A9. Only three of the four M9 sliproads meet the roundabout, because the A905 turns right here, and runs alongside the motorway, blocking the space required for the final sliproad. The A905 now curves north west, with the M9 to the south, and Grangemouth's suburbs to the north. It crosses the Grange Burn, and then about half a mile from the main junction it finds the southbound offslip at a signalised junction set in a very short section of D1 dual carriageway. The road then comes to a roundabout junction with the B9132, which leads into the heart of Grangemouth.
Continuing on past a couple of motor garages on the left, and then crossing the railway serving the petrochemical complex and docks, the route reaches Junction 6 of the M9, this is again an unusual junction layout, this time with only north facing slips. The northbound onslip is met first at Earls Gate Roundabout, where the A904 is met again, as it crosses at right angles to the A905, on its way into Falkirk. The A905 continuies north west alongside the motorway, although veering away slightly to avoid buildings, and then a little further north the southbound offslip joins it, much as happened at Junction 5, at traffic signals set in a short stretch of dual carriageway! The A905 then crosses the Kerse Bridge over the River Carron, incorporating on its south side a new lifting bridge across the eastern extension of the Forth and Clyde Canal.
Skinflats - Stirling
Having crossed the river, the road briefly passes between fields before entering the small village of Skinflats, which is littered with traffic-calming measures such as traffic islands and build outs. The village is quickly passed, however, and the road is now heading almost due north, across wide flat fields on the west bank of the Forth. Before long the A88 is met at the South Bellsdyke Roundabout. (Just south of this roundabout, a route confirmation sign for traffic heading south indicates "Skinflats 1" between brackets, even though the A905 goes directly to and right through the middle of that place!). The A88 was formerly part of a much more important cross-country route, and so the next section of the A905 is dualled as it continues north to Bowtrees Interchange, where the M876 passes overhead, becoming the A876 eastward. This short section of dual carriageway can get rather busy at peak times, but is often pleasantly quiet.
After passing under the M876/A876 junction, the road takes on more of a rural character, continuing northwards through Airth which is also frustratingly afflicted with traffic calming. At the north end of the village, the B9124 turns off to the left on its curious route to Stirling, while the A905 continues north past Dunmore Park (famous as home to The Pineapple) before reaching the hamlet of Dunmore. Here the road sweeps round towards the north-west to avoid the River Forth. The road turns again at South Alloa, from where a ferry once sailed to Alloa on the north bank of the Forth, now heading almost due west through Throsk and Fallin (another village with a lot of traffic calming) before meeting up with the A91 at Millhall Roundabout.
The final stretch of the route continues west, through the outskirts of Stirling. The first stretch is a new alignment, dubbed the city's "Motor Mile" (with around a dozen car showrooms in close proximity). The Springkerse Industrial Estate and Retail Park lie off to the right at the next roundabout, which can get busy as a result. Finally, the road crosses the railway again (this time it is the main north–south line from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Inverness and Aberdeen) and comes to a halt at the Craigs Roundabout where it meets the A9 once again, as well as the B8052.
An amended OpenStreetMap trace for this route awaits uploading to the SABRE Wiki.
History
Whilst much of the A905 still follows the route set out back in 1922, the Grangemouth end has seen a lot of change, largely thanks to the construction of the M9. Originally, the A905 started on the A9 (now the A803) at the crossroads on Polmont Road in the Westquarter/Redding area of Falkirk. From here, it ran north along Grandsable Road to East Beancross Farm, and then turned north-west. This means it crossed the new routes of both the A9 and the motorway. It met its current route near the southbound offslip of J5 of the M9. By 1971, the motorway was open, cutting the original route and so the A905 had been diverted to run alongside it as far as Cadgers Brae Roundabout. It still started, however, by following Grandsable Road north, and then turned east along what is now the A9 to the roundabout.
Much of the current route extension to the east is a new build. The first half mile was originally the B904, but has been completely rebuilt. The B904 originally turned south to cross the River Avon and then follow Smiddy Brae to Old Polmont, so the route of the A905 over the new Avon Bridge was all built later. The section on the west bank of the river is first shown on the 1971 OS One Inch map, but the bridge is still not shown in 1974. Continuing west, the dual carriageway section is also first shown in 1971, albeit as a single carriageway. By 1974 it is part of the new B9143, and it is presumed that it only became part of the A905 when the Avon Bridge was completed.
Other changes east of Stirling are limited to the re-profiling of a couple of bends, most noticeably at South Alloa, where there used to be a right angle turn through the T junction, and at Throsk, where an old loop survives to the north of the current road. The A91 and Millhall Roundabout were both built in the 1970s, with the A905 route subsequently changed quite considerably in the area. The Bannock Burn used to be crossed immediately to the south, with the A905 skirting the southern edge of the roundabout, and then looping through the industrial estate beyond. Bits of the old road survive between car showrooms, before the old and new routes cross and the old limne of Kerse Road is easy to follow as it loops round to Broadleys Roundabout. The current western end of the road is slightly to the east of the original terminus as it has been cut back to end on the A9 relief road; the original line of the A9 through town was along Port Street.