A912

The A912 is a largely rural A-road which runs across Fife and into Perthshire with two distinct sections.

Route

Muirhead - Strathmiglo

Balreavie south of Falkland

The route starts at the New Inn Roundabout North of Glenrothes and, despite its slightly convoluted route, it is the signed route to Perth. It initially runs through farmland below the steep escarpment of the Lomond Hills to Falkland, a historic village home to Falkland Palace amongst other fascinating old buildings. The B936 joins from the right just after entering the village, and the two routes multiplex along Pleasance, and then New Road, with the best of the village lying off to the left. As the road leaves the village behind it swings round to the west, with the B936 departing again to the right. The road then crosses flatter farm land, passing the intriguingly, indeed inexplicably named Pillars of Hercules, and darting through Cash Wood along the way.

After a couple of miles, the road enters the pretty village of Strathmiglo, sort of. Again, most of the village lies off to the left with its interesting streetscapes, while the A912 skirts along the eastern edge, before picking up what could be the countries shortest bypass to reach the A91 just a couple of hundred metres later. The route then multiplexes with the A91 for a couple of miles west to Gateside.

Gateside - Perth

The longer, and far more intersting section of the A912 starts on the A91 in the small village of Gateside and heads north, climbing steadily alongside the Morton Burn until it finds a gap in the low ridge of the Ochill Hills. To the west, these hills climb to over 700m, but the eastern end fails to reach half of that height, and the road tops out at just over 150m. Just over the summit, a tiny parking area provides access to the ruins of Balvaird Castle, and then the road plunges down the narrow, twisty and wooded glen of the Mill Burn, emerging into Glen Farg at a TOTSO with the B996 (former A90) at the Bein Inn. This marks the original end of the A912, but since the opening of the motorway, the route now turns right and continued north.

If anything the road down Glen Farg is steeper, twistier and more thickly wooded, before the road suddenly finds the wide open spaces of the lower Tay valley at Aberagie. Here it meets with the A913 at a roundabout, before running north west along the Baiglie Straight to the M90 J9. This junction serves the small town of Bridge of Earn, which lies immediately to the north, with the eponymous Bridge of Earn at the far end of the main street. Across the river, a right turn leads in a long loop via Rhynd and Elcho back to the A912, while the main road starts climbing for the final time through the gap between Moncreiffe Hill and Mailer Hill.

Craigend Interchange, with the A912 starting bottom left

After sweeping round a wide horseshoe bend to gain height, the road unexpectedly splits and becomes a dual carriageway as it enters the strange netherworld under the M90 at J10. This tangle of sliproads sits in a hollow between the hills with the A912 weaving through the middle. The only access is between the northbound motorway and the northbound A912, allowing traffic from the south to enter the city, or vice versa. The two lanes of the A912 that have climbed the hill suddenly give out, and a moment later merge onto the offslip from the motorway, which is reduced to a single lane just as quickly. Four traffic lanes are therefore reduced to a single one in about 250m!

Now in the suburbs of Perth the A912 winds steeply down hill once more as it runs in along Edinburgh Road. A small roundabout gives access to Tescos, and then traffic lights manage a left turn. Over the railway, the road passes an industrial area and the prison, before crossing the parkland of the South Inch on a long tree lined straight. This park, along with the North Inch on the far side of the city centre, were left free from development due to flooding risks, but now create a really beautiful setting for the city centre, which can be seen ahead, a row of elegant buildings looking out across the park. At the end, the A912 meets the A989 ring road at a signalised crossroads.

This is not the end, however. On the far side of the city, the A912 reappears and runs north along Barrack Street and Dunkeld Road to the Crieff Road Roundabout, this section being a multiplex with the A85, where the A912 number appears to be dominant. It then continues north along Dunkeld Road, as a dual carriageway past Asda and on to the next roundabout on the Motor Mile, also known as the Golden Mile, which is lined with car showrooms. Reduced to single carriageway, the road passes under a low railway bridge to end at Inveralmond Roundabout on the A9.

History

The southern section of the A912 is largely as it was a century ago, apart from the short bypass at Strathmiglo. The road originally turned into the village and followed the High Street to meet the A91 further west.

The northern section is also largely unchanged as far as it originally went. However, from Gateside Junction, the A912 now follows the old line of the A90 north to Perth. This route was downgraded and renumbered when the M90 was built, and continued south through Glenfarg along what is now the B996. The A90 originally terminated in Perth, having turned left at the northern end of the South Inch onto Marshall Place and then right up King Street to meet the A9. The A9 then continued north along Methven Street, where it doglegged onto Barrack Street, which is where the A912 now resumes. Dunkeld Road from here up to Inveralmond was therefore the original line of the A9, before the bypass was built in the 1980s.

The 1980 edition of the OS Landranger map still shows the A90 reaching Perth, alongside the M90. However, by 1984 the A912 is shown as entering Perth and terminating where the A90 originally ended on Marshall Place, with the A9 Western bypass shown as under construction, so the A912 would have been extended north to Inveralmond by 1986 when the new A9 route was opened.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Bein Inn - Gateside - Strathmiglo - Falkland - Muirhead