A91

The A91 used to be a major route into the north of Fife, but has now been superseded by the A92 and the A90. Once primary throughout, it has since been downgraded.

Route

Stirling - Dollar

The A91 now starts at Pirnhall Interchange, Junction 9 of both the M80 and M9. It heads off from the north east corner of this oversized roundabout, curving gently across fields to meet the A9 at Greencornhills Roundabout. This is the southern end of Stirling's eastern bypass, and also the oldest part of that road, but still built to a high standard. However, modern traffic levels mean that this section could benefit at times from being a dual carriageway. After crossing the A9, the A91 follows a short straight to the next roundabout with the B9124, Greenyards Roundabout. The route is now curving around the edge of Bannockburn, with houses just through the trees on the left as it heads north, then curves north west to Skeoch Roundabout. Here the A91 turns hard right and climbs over the railway line on a short straight which also carries the route over the Bannock Burn. The fields beyond are part of the battlefield site of the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, although the battle was fought over a large area which also includes much of the modern suburb to the west.

Logie Kirk Roundabout

Now curving to the north again, the route crosses the A905 at Millhall Roundabout, before a short straight takes it past the Springkerse Retail Park, which is primarily accessed from the Muirton Roundabout at the far end. The next roundabout is over a mile away, with a long sinuous section crossing over the wide River Forth and then a railway line before crossing the A907 at Manor Powis Roundabout. This marks the northern end of the bypass route, and sees the A91 finally reach a part of one of its historical routes out of Stirling. A short straight leads past Powis Mains to the roundabout at Logie Kirk, where the B998 comes in from the left on the A91's original route. Now heading almost due east, the A91 follows Hillfoots Road, which has to fight its way through the pretty, but busy Hillfoots villages which line the south-facing lower slopes of the Ochill Hills. These hills rise as a steep bluff from the valley of the River Devon, with the steep narrow glens offering no opportunity for a modern road to cross at first.

After passing through the scattered settlement of Blairlogie, the A91 reaches the first of the Hillfoots Villages, Menstrie. The entrance to the village is marked by a roundabout serving a modern housing estate, beyond which the A91 follows Main Street West and then Main Street East, the name changing at the small bridge over the Menstrie Burn. Menstrie is the smallest of the villages, and Main Street is lined with a mixture of older and modern buildings, including a couple of shops, churches and so on. The houses end quite abruptly, with fields ahead on both sides and for the first time perhaps, it is possible to see the stark contrast between the flat arable landscape to the right and the steep hills to the left. In spring and early summer, the bright yellow of the gorse brings some colour to these slopes, and later in the year patches of purple heather and then the russet of the bracken is also visible.

Tullibody Road leads past the 'isolated' block of housing at Victoria Terrace, but the A91 soon reaches Alva, which starts just as abruptly as Menstrie finished. At first, the modern housing is set back from the main road behind service roads, but after passing Cochrane Park, older housing lines West Stirling Street, with shops and businesses slowly taking over as the route approaches the busy town centre. Parking bays alternate on either side, with humped crossings, numerous junctions and bus stops slowing traffic to a crawl for much of the day. The B908 turns off to the right at a crossroads at the eastern end of the town centre, turning traffic partly assisted by a crossing immediately to the west. East Stirling Street then slowly heads out of town, and again the modern housing estates are either set back or back onto the main road. An industrial site sits on the right at the edge of the town, beyond which the A91 cuts across the fields once more as Hillfoots Road.

A little over a mile later, Tillcoultry is reached, and the High Street quickly leads into the town centre, again with parking bays in front of the shops, and junctions and so on to slow traffic right down. The A908 turns off to the right at a mini roundabout, serving the popular Sterling Mills outlet centre on its way to Alloa. Now following Dollar Road, the A91 passes through a leafy residential area of bungalows, and passes a couple of cemeteries before fields appear on the right once more. So far, the route through the Hillfoots villages has been one of long straights joined by slight kinks. However, before the last houses of Tillcoultry are passed, the route becomes much twistier, snaking this way and that past a modern housing estate and on across fields. In a couple of places laybys show where the route was once even windier. Through the trees on the right, the Devon Way cycleroute follows a much straighter old railway line, showing that it would be possible to improve this stretch of road, even with the slopes rising from the northern edge of the road in places.

At length, the route straightens up again, but only as it enters Dollar, perhaps the prettiest of the Hillfoots villages. Harviestoun Road leads through the leafy estates on the western edge of the small town, then kinks right-left onto Bridge Street which leads into the town centre. A selections of shops and businesses line the main road, and there are some fine old buildings to see both here and in the streets behind. The tree-lined Dollar Burn is crossed beyond the town centre, with pretty streets on both banks leading upstream, and ultimately to Castle Campbell spectacularly nestled deep in Dollar Glen. The A91, meanwhile, continues eastwards on Muckhart Road, passing the parish church and some large properties set back in large gardens.

Dollar - Milnathort

The A91 through the Hillfoots Villages has, at times, been a slow crawl, but things improve a little beyond Dollar. The route continues eastwards, winding through trees as it crosses fields. There are a couple of shorter straights, but the road is narrow and visibility rarely good meaning that traffic can often remain slow. As the route climbs gently across the lower slopes of Law Hill, there are a couple of properties close to the roadside, but most of the farms are set back on side roads or driveways. a tighter right hand bend leads into denser woodland, and even though this section of the route saw some improvements in the 1960s, it remains a frustrating series of narrow, winding bends through the trees. The road does eventually straighten up, passing a scattering of roadside houses before reaching the small village of Pool of Muckhart. The A91 threads its way through the older houses, with parked cars on the roadside in front, which hide the more modern housing behind.

Heading east at Muckhart Crossroads

After a couple of fields, the scattered settlement of Yetts of Muckhart is reached. This tiny village is perhaps better known for the unusual junction with the A823, which originated as a skewed crossroads, and is therefore names Muckhart Crossroads. The A823 comes in from the right at a fairly ordinary T junction, and then briefly multiplexes with the A91 around a sort of roundabout to the north east. The southbound carriageway of this junction is the original line of the A91, which now has to TOTSO to continue. Beyond the junction, the A91 feels a little wider and, apart from a sharp double bend over the River Devon, it is somewhat straighter than it has been since Dollar. The highest point of the whole route lies on the first short straight, where it crosses the 180m contour, but the next couple of miles are hardly much lower as it undulates along the lower slopes of the Ochill Hills.

Final approaches to the M90 at Milnathort

This is a much more rural area than the Hillfoots Villages of Clackmannanshire, and so there are only a scattering of farms and houses to be seen as the route heads east. At length, the tiny village of Carnbo is reached, but it is quickly passed through, and then the route begins to slowly lose height. As it does so, the vast flat landscape of Kinrosss-shire opens up to the right, with distant views of the strange lumpy hills beyond Loch Leven. The B918 turns off to the right, cutting across to the A977 for Kinross, while the A91 continues ahead along a long, wide straight. A couple of sweeping bends bring it to the M90 at Hilton Interchange, with north facing slips only, and at this point the A91 should come to a temporary halt as it multiplexes with the motorway around Milnathort. Except that it doesn't. Instead, it continues ahead following Stirling Road into what has almost become a northern suburb of Kinross. In the old town centre, the A911 and A922 are met at a mini roundabout, all three routes coming to a bizarre end.

Milnathort - Cupar

To find the next section of the A91, traffic has to continue ahead on the A911 along New Road, which becomes the B996, Perth Road when the A911 turns off. This multiplex is then reversed at the Arlary Junction, when the A91 number becomes dominant as the M90 sliproads merge in. A very brief section of dual carriageway ends just before Mawcarse, where the B919 turns right, and then the B996 departs to the north a short distance later. Finally, the A91 takes on the character of a former trunk route, and a good long and wide straight section leads through to the small village of Gateside, although some slight crests and dips do hinder forward visibility here and there. In the middle of the village, the A912 comes in from the left, at a simple T junction with limited visibility thanks to houses on both corners. The two routes then multiplex eastwards to the next village, Strathmiglo. Again, the route is reasonably straight and wide, although it can also be busy at times.

Strathmiglo has a 'natural' bypass, an old road running past to the north, and this has been widened and improved, with turning lanes for the junctions. The last of these is for the A912, which heads south east to Falkland, while the A91 continues ahead, quickly reaching Auchtermuchty. Sadly, this pretty village has not been bypassed, and traffic has to wind its way along Low Road, past old houses and a new supermarket. The old core of the town centre lies off to the north in a tangle of narrow streets, but over the years some businesses have gravitated to the main road, particularly around the junction with the B936. This is a slightly offset crossroads, lying on the banks of the Auchtermuchty Burn, with all approaches curving away behind roadside buildings, severely limiting visibility in all directions. Cupar Road slowly straightens out as it works its way out of the village, and is soon enjoying long straights across fields as it continues east, passing to the north of Birnie Loch.

The eastern extremities of the Ochill Hills are still lying off to the north, rising much more gently now, and crossed by numerous side roads. To the south, fields stretch out across the low-lying Howe of Fife, a vast basin around the upper reaches of the River Eden. The A91 follows a series of long, undulating straights between the two, passing just a couple of houses before reaching the staggered crossroads with the B937 at Collessie. Despite a scattering of housing at this realigned junction, the village itself lies off to the north, leaving the A91 free to continue eastwards. A long straight dives under a railway bridge, and continues most of the way to the Melville Lodges Roundabout with the A92. The two routes cross easily, and more long straights hurry traffic across the fields, past the handful of houses at Bow of Fife and on into Cupar.

Cupar - St Andrews

Cupar is the Historic County Town of Fife, home to the old county buildings, which included the county's courthouse. This prestige has given the town some fine old buildings around the centre, and an air of faded glory since the modern council transferred to Glenrothes. It is a long slog, however, through the western suburbs to reach the town centre, and although the road is generally wide and straight, parked cars, bus stops and junctions can reduce traffic to a crawl. Carslogie Road takes the A91 past schools and a short line of houses, before becoming the more urban West Port at the junction with the A913. Offices and other businesses intermingle with houses at first, but soon both sides of the street are lined with shops. Bonnygate is, at first, wide enough for parking bays on both sides, but slowly narrows to a notable pinch point just before the old market place opens up to the right. This is lined with some beautiful old buildings, built in a Georgian style from stone not too dissimilar in colour from the famed Bath Stone.

Heading west into Cupar

An often congested section of the A91 leads on along St Catherine Street to a pair of small roundabouts. The A914 turns off to the right at the first, with the A91 turning left around Haugh Park. The second roundabout returns the route to an easterly heading, with the B940 also turning right soon after. At first East Road is lined with older detached houses and bungalows, but before long modern estates take over, turning their backs on the main road behind wide green verges. Fields appear on the left just before a roundabout, which provides access to a large industrial estate that spreads along the roadside for some distance. At length the edge of town is reached, and the A91, in a multiplex with the A914 once more follows a series of long straights across fields to the small village of Dairsie. The A91 and A914 split again at the Dairsie Roundabout just beyond the village, with the latter heading north towards the Tay Road Bridge and Dundee.

The historic Guardbridge

After crossing the railway, a series of sweeping bends lead past a large holiday park and on, across fields, to Guardbridge. This large village grew up around riverside mills, but they have long since closed and been converted into a campus of St Andrews University, with a large modern housing estate also being developed. The long, straight, Cupar Road drops down to the Guardbridge Roundabout with the A919, which also heads north towards Dundee. Immediately beyond the roundabout, the River Eden is crossed on a modern bridge alongside the historic Guardbridge. The final leg of the A91 then runs out across the flat landscape of the Eden Estuary. As this is the main route in and out of St Andrews, it can be very busy with commuters, residents, tourists and students all combining to slow traffic down and make turning at the junctions almost impossible at times.

The road runs alongside an old railway line, now a busy cycleroute and part of the Fife Coast Path, as it covers the last few miles into St Andrews. Trees and bushes have grown up between the two, but there are still glimpses of the views across the estuary to the distant coastline of Angus. As the town is finally reached, traffic slows further for a roundabout built for a new housing estate, and then uses a modern alignment from 1964 bypassing the Old Course Hotel. Another roundabout gives access to the golf courses on the left, and university buildings to the right. Links Crescent then curves gently between some find old stone buildings to a mini roundabout, where the A91 meets the A915 (to the right) and A917 (ahead), all three routes terminating here on the edge of the historic town centre.

History

A91 historic route from 1922/3 numbering

It appears from the draft proposals before the 1935 renumberings that the A91 was in severe danger of being wiped out. The suggestion was to extend the A80 eastwards along the entire length of the A91 from Stirling to St Andrews. In the margin the proposal is even marked as 'Agreed', but for some reason it was never carried through.

The A91 never quite reached Stirling. It originally ended on the A9 in Causewayhead. It soon took over the B907, gaining a spur at its western end. In 1946 the whole of A91 became a trunk road, and at its western end took over a later use of the B907 number as well as a mile or so of the A907 (with the old route past the Wallace Monument being renumbered A997). This detour, although about a mile longer, gave a flat route with few bends.

This road was later to become the beginning of a Stirling eastern bypass. A second section, connecting the then A80 (now A872) and A9 in the Bannockburn area was completed in the mid-1970s and numbered A99. By the end of the 1980s this short section of road had been joined to the A91 (including a bridge over the River Forth) and the whole thing renumbered as an extension of the A91, with the A907 being extended to Causewayend once again. At around the same time, the A997 was deemed surplus to requirements and became the B998.

The western half was detrunked in 1969, being replaced by A977, although it remained primary. Sometime later, probably in 1996, the eastern half was also detrunked.

Improvement Opening Dates

Year	Section	Notes
1962	Cowden Castle Corner Diversion	The 0.37 mile road north-east of Dollar was completed in 1962 per the 1962 Scottish Development Department Report.
1964	St Andrews: Petheram Bridge Diversion	The 1 mile road east of the town was completed in 1964 per the 1964 Scottish Development Department Report. It bypassed Old Station Road.
1979	Cuthilmuir - Burnside	The straightening to the east of M90 J8 Arlary Junction was completed in 1979 per the 1979 Scottish Development Department Report.