A929

Forfar Road, Dundee

The A929, formerly a road of about 15 miles in Angus, has been cut back considerably in recent years from its original route, and is now just an urban route within Dundee. The route includes a spur in the city centre, which has taken in some respects taken precedence over the original route, although both include TOTSOs. The start point of the route has been moved several times, but when considering the original line it is reasonable to say that the current start is now where King Street crosses the A991, East Marketgait. The problem with this is that the junction is essentially a bus gate, where only buses (and taxis etc) can cross the inner ring road, with the only turning provision being for traffic turning left out of the eastern arm of King Street onto the A991. For all practical purposes, therefore, traffic for the A929 now starts a little to the south at the East Port Roundabout, and follows the unclassified Blackscroft east.

King Street, which has become Princes Street and Blackscroft meet at a fork junction where there is no turning between the two western arms. This junction is a TOTSO with priority given to Blackscroft, so avoiding the Bus Gate. The A929 continued to follow Princes Street as it curves round to the north, crosses the B959 at a signalised crossroads and continues on Albert Street. Two blocks to the north, the other arm of the A929 comes in from the left on Arthurstone Terrace which is one-way eastbound, the two parts meeting at a signalised T junction. The intermediate Lyon Street is also marked as being part of the B959 on some maps, although this seems to be part of the one-way system, as Lyon Street remains one way westbound.

Moving for a moment then to the spur, it has a much easier start, beginning on the A991 North Marketgait at Ladywell Roundabout. It immediately curves round to the east onto Victoria Road, which crosses the Inner Ring Road over the tunnel. Victoria Road curves to the north, passing both arms of the B959, although only the first junction, with Victoria Street, is signalised. The A929 then TOTSOs left onto the one-way Arthurstone Terrace, without any traffic controls. Once the two arms have been re-united, the A929 continues north along Albert Street and then Forfar Road. There are a couple of busier junctions which have been signalised, but for the most part the route is a suburban radial like many others across Britain's cities. At length, it reaches the outer ring road, Kingsway East. The junction is a staggered crossroads with the A972 curving round to the south east and the A90 turning from west to north, as such the A929 does not quite meet the A90, instead terminating on the A972.

History

Central Dundee

The A929 appears to have originally started on the A92 at the junction of Arbroath Road and Victoria Street, which now forms the route of the B959. The A92 originally came in along Arbroath Road, then turned onto Princes Street and King Street to reach the city centre. This remained the case until the Tay Road Bridge was built in the 1960s, at which point the A92 was moved south to pass the docks. At this point, the A929 was extended along King Street into the city centre, and then turned down Trades Lane to meet the new line of the A92, or possibly stopped short on the A930, numbering of the city centre roads is uncertain at this time. The 1967 OS One Inch Sheet also shows Panmure Street as a spur of the A929; albeit un-numbered, it seems unlikely that it could have carried any other number. By 1969 it is shown as unclassified, and indeed it may have been an error on the 1967 sheet.

Dundee - Forfar

Originally, the A929 also continued north of Dundee via Todhills to Forfar where it ended on the A94 in the town centre. The southwest section of the Forfar bypass was given the A929 number on construction (with the original road into town renumbered A932). However, other improvements to the main route between Dundee and Aberdeen sounded the death knell for the A929, as the A90 was extended along it in 1994 once it had become part of a complete dual carriageway for traffic to Aberdeen.

Some maps have shown a remnant of the A929 surviving in Forfar, specifically the section of road between the A90/A94 and the centre of Forfar, and at one time it was, but this is now actually the A94.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Dundee - Forfar