A909

The A909 has gained a few miles at its northern end at the expense of its neighbours, due to construction of first the M90, then the A92 improvements, but it has also lost a mile at the southern end. The most scenic way to drive the route is from north to south.

The A909 meets the B914 seamlessly at Junction 4 of the M90, a simple diamond interchange over the motorway. It heads east at first, along Cocklaw Street, a magnificent dead-straight descent through Kelty, with several speed bumps. This section was all B914 prior to the motorway, and was elevated to A status as a feeder from much of southern Fife into the northbound M90. In the town centre the dead-straight B917 crosses, the two routes meeting at a mini roundabout. The A909 then continues along Station Road to an acute TOTSO with the B996 (it looks worse on the map than on the ground), the straight route through the junction being the former A90. Here the A909 turns sharp right to leave Kelty behind and head out across fields.

The A909 now follows a very twisty section of former A90 south, undulating across farmland. The old A90 was a wide road, which has nominally been reduced by painting cycle lanes against either verge. The route then climbs a little as it curves into the outskirts of Cowdenbeath on Perth Road and soon meets the B981 (former A910) at a roundabout, the two routes now multiplexing south. Descending into Cowdenbeath, Perth road sweeps round a double bend to become the long straight High Street. This runs right through the town centre, passing under the Fife Circle railway line. A roundabout at the southern end marks the original start of the road as the B981 heads off to the right. The next section can be a very busy stretch of road, as it leads to the diamond junction with the A92. The dual carriageway is crossed by an overbridge, beyond which a long straight realigned section with eased gradients follows.

Off to the left, partially hidden behind trees, the sci-fi looking retorts of the Mossmorran Chemical Plant used to dominate the view, but the growth of the trees, and plant redevelopment has lessened the impact on the landscape. Just beyond the plant entrance, the B925 Halbeath–Kirkcaldy road is met at Beverkae Roundabout. The A909 multiplexed south from here with the A907 for many years from the mid-1920s but that road has now been downgraded east of the M90. A twisting switchback section follows; in one place the modern road seems on a map to cross over a former alignment by a bridge, and while it does cross a farm track, this isn't particularly evident when driving.

The road to Burntisland

The road then drops down through patches of woodland to a strange double TOTSO with the B9157 at Bernards Smithy Crossroads. This was once a normal crossroads, but converted to its current form in the 1960s, before the modrn A92 route was built, meaning that what is now the B9157 was the main route from Kirkcaldy to the west. Back on its original line, the A909 climbs steadily past the Stenhouse Reservoir before it sweeps down into Burntisland, with magnificent views across the Firth of Forth. It ends at a roundabout with the A921 (once A92) to the north of the town centre. The A909 originally continued south along a multiplex with the A92 into town centre and so continued to the harbour.

History

As noted above, the first few miles of the modern A909 have all been taken over from other routes since the M90 was built. Cocklaw Street and Station Road in Kelty are the original eastern end of the B914, and the next section south into Cowdenbeath was originally the A90. There don't seem to be any substantial realignments on either section. Once across the modern A92, the climb up to Mossmorran has been rebuilt as a straight road with a fairly steady gradient. A short section of the old road can be found in the fields to the east, with a wide, blocked bellmouth connection to the new road. The two routes then swap sides, and another section of old road survives as access to a farm.

The Beverkae Roundabout junction with the B925 has been moved approximately 100m to the west of the old crossroads in the 1950s, long before construction of the Mossmorran site. South of the roundabout, the current route is shown on the MOT map from 1923, dispelling any thoughts that the farm track was once the A909, but it could still be an older alignment of the road, perhaps improved in the turnpike era. This track passes under the road, and then rejoins a short distance to the south. Apart from the obvious changes at Bernards Smithy Crossroads, the onward route to Burntisland seems little changed.

Once in the town, however, the route used to continue as noted above. After a short multiplex with what was the A92 and is now the A921, the A909 ran along the High Street before turning left onto Harbour Place in front of the railway viaduct. After passing under the railway, it turned left again to end in Forth Place in front of the old Railway Station, and within sight of the docks from where a ferry crossed the Forth to Granton Harbour in [{Edinburgh]]. This final section is still shown on OS 1:10000 maps from the 1980s, but was probably downgraded soon after; it is now unclassified.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Burntisland - Cowdenbeath