A908

The A908 is the only A road to lie entirely within Clackmannanshire, Scotland's smallest county, and also within the like-named council area, one of its smallest unitary authorities.

Route

The road begins at the Shillinghill Roundabout with the A907 in the centre of Alloa, and almost immediately passes below a railway bridge, where the road surface has been lowered to increase headroom. Continuing north east along Whins Road, the A908 meets the B909, along which traffic joins from the east, at a roundabout which replaces a TOTSO junction. The road now runs north into Sauchie, where there is a junction with a spur of the B908 Alloa–Alva road. Confusingly, the A908 and B908 both link Alloa and Sauchie by different routes. The route now runs along Hallpark through an area of parkland which was once the branch line to Dollar, with the A908 crossing the railway twice. Hallpark leads onto Main Street as it winds through Sauchie, then becoming Alloa Road.

Former paper mill in Tilicoultry

The road briefly feels as if it has left the town behind, with a golf course to the right and houses screened by trees to the left, but this illusion hardly has time to take hold before Fishcross is reached. The next junction is a painted roundabout with the B9140 at the far end of Fishcross, whose grim housing-scheme architecture is relieved by the sudden dramatic appearance of the rampart range of the Ochil Hills ahead. After dipping down across a field (singular), the route next passes through Devon Village (a strange name as it is a good way from the River Devon, and its handful of houses hardly classes as a village). Then there is a sweeping descent to Devonside, a suburb of Tillicoultry which lies on the south bank of the river.

The river is crossed on Tillicoultry Bridge, immediately after which lies the Sterling Mills warehouse and outlet village, which is Tilly's main claim to fame. The route then crosses the old railway line once more as it climbs Moss Road and ends at a mini roundabout with the A91 next to Tillcoultry bus stance.

History

Not much has changed along the route of the A908 since 1922. The junctions at either end have been converted to roundabouts, as have a couple along the route, and there is perhaps a subtle realignment here and there. However, there is one big change in Sauchie. Before the railway line closed, the A908 passed under it twice. The first bridge was on Parkhead Road, now the spur of the B908, which was once the A908. The route then ran north up Mar Place, before passing back under the tracks on Main Street.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Alloa - Tillicoultry