A930

The A930 heads east from Dundee along the north coast of the Firth of Tay to Carnoustie and the A92. However, the road never actually reaches the shore, instead running inland from the railway line, and more often than not housing and industrial areas too.

Route

The route starts on the eastern side of Dundee city centre, departing from the A92 at a busy signalised fork, where the A92 turns inland to bypass the towns and villages along the coast. Prior to the roadworks which took place here in 2009 the junction was a TOTSO for the A92, doubtless reflecting the fact that prior to the 1960s the A92 ran further in land from the city centre, and all of Broughty Ferry Road was the A930. The route therefore starts as S4 (obstructed by bus stops and roadside parking) as it runs east along Broughty Ferry Road to the first roundabout. A mixture of large detached and semi detached houses line the north side of the road, facing a row of trees which screens the railway line and industrial port areas along the shore.

Monifieth Road in Broughty Ferry

After the roundabout, the road becomes Dundee Road West, which narrows down to a wide S2 as it becomes Dundee Road. to enter West Ferry. The Firth is now in full view to the south, although direct access is still blocked by the railway line along the shore. Broughty Ferry is soon reached and the B978 joins from the north at a signalised crossroads, while the A930 keeps heading east along West Queen Street, onto Queen Street and then Monifieth Road. As the route curves to the north east, it becomes Dalhousie Road, and then Ferry Road as it crosses the boundary into Angus from Dundee City, although there is no let up in the development along the road. Ferry Road winds back round to the east and crosses the Dighty Burn into Monifieth. Ferry Road becomes Maule Street, which kinks left onto High Street, passing the shops and businesses of the town centre.

The road is now heading away from the shore, which in turn sweeps out into the mouth of the Firth to round Buddon Ness with its dunes, golf courses and military training site. At the eastern end of the town, the B962 meets the A930 at a mini roundabout, as it kinks right onto Barry Road. The road now winds eastwards through fields, past farms and a holiday park. The small village of Barry has been bypassed, and then the A930 reaches Carnoustie, home to many golf courses at a roundabout on the edge of town. Another roundabout provides a modern road up to the A92, and then its the long slog through the town full of golfers and tourist shops.

Entering Carnoustie from the north

Barry Road becomes Dundee Street at a sweeping double bend, and then High Street and Church Street. Eventually, the A930 turns northwards onto Carlogie Road and heads out of town. After crossing a couple of fields, the road negotiates a number of sharp bends, before rejoining the A92 at Muirdrum Junction. Here, the B9128 continues northwards, while the A930 terminates at the GSJ.

History

The history of the A930 at the Dundee end is confused and difficult to be precise about due to the scale of maps currently available. What can be said with certainty is that it previously extended much further into the city centre, and after the Tay Road Bridge opened this included a short multiplex with the A92. It is difficult to pin down the original start point of the route, but it started on the A92 and left the city centre on Seagate, then briefly followed Blackscroft before forking right onto Broughty Ferry Road. It then crossed and recrossed the railway line at Stannergate at the east end of the port area. By the 1940s, the current Dundee Road West route had been constructed, removing this deviation.

In the 1960s, with the construction of the Tay Road Bridge, the routes in the city centre were changed, and the A92 was re-routed along the former A931 route. This led to a brief multiplex between the A92 and A930 along Broughty Ferry Road to the west of the A930s current start point. The city centre route seems to have initially remained the same, but was quickly curtailed at Trades Lane, which seems to have become the A929, having previously been a spur of the A931.

Further east, a subtle change in Monifieth can be more precisely noted, that is that the route originally made a sharper double bend along Ramsay Street and Dalhousie Street at the eastern end of the town. It was then re-routed onto its current line along a very short section of the B962 and the new-build Ashludie Terrace sometime between 1971 and 76. The Barry bypass is much more recent, first appearing on the 2007 OS Landranger, and at the very end of the route, it has been curtailed on the new A92 Muirdrum Bypass, with the B9128 being extended a little to meet it.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Dundee - Broughty Ferry - Carnoustie - Muirdrum