A932

Forfar

The A932 is a relatively short A-road in central Angus. It originally started on the A94 in the centre of Forfar but when the bypass was built it was extended south along the ex-A929 to meet the bypass (which did not become the A90 for some years afterwards).

Route Description

The road begins on the A90 at the southern end of the Forfar by-pass and after passing Lochlands Garden Centre on the right, soon reaches "Duff`s Corner", a right hander where a view of Strathmore and Forfar suddenly appears. It then heads down the hill into the town on Dundee Road before the TOTSO right into St. James Road, with the A926 continuing ahead. Halfway along this road the new Asda store is passed on the left with traffic lights at the entrance, before a winding descent down to the mini roundabout and onto Academy Street. It is then uphill to another roundabout where the A932 turns left onto South Street, multiplexing with the B9128, but only for a few yards. At the East Port traffic lights, the A932 turns right onto Arbroath Road which slowly curves round to the right, passing left turns for both the B9134 and B9113 in quick succession.

With the town centre having been passed to its south the road is now in the eastern outskirts of Forfar and within a mile the last houses are passed on the left with undulating fields already spreading out on the right. Now out in the country, the road soon passes Forfar Golf Course on the right and half a mile further, Murton Nature Reserve on the left before a swift double bend through a dip at Foresterseat. There are a few scattered houses along the roadside, but most lie amongst the fields, accessed down long driveways with patches of woodland here and there. The road is generally wide, with short straights connected by fast sweeping bends, and the occasional sharper turn as it heads eastwards.

Heading east at Balgavies

Rescobie Loch can be seen behind trees away to the left with Turin Hill beyond, while the northern slope of Dunnichen Hill looms large to the right. The B9113, which has stayed roughly parallel to the A932 since the junction in Forfar, runs along the northern shore of Rescobie Loch, before the two routes start to diverge further. A half mile straight here with good sightlines offers one of the few overtaking opportunities on this route before a double bend at Fonah farm heralds a twistier section for a few miles. Balgavies Loch Nature Reserve is passed to the left and then a couple of minor roads, the first, the C44 heads north, skirting the eastern end of the loch, the second is a few yards beyond on the right, the C54 which heads to the large village of Letham.

The road now reaches a series of bends through a wood culminating in the slowest corner on the route, a tight right hand bend at Milldens Farm. From now on the road is relatively straight but its undulating nature makes overtaking hazardous. The remains of the railway that ran from Forfar to Arbroath, and followed a similar route to the road through the Lunan Valley, are now hard up against the left hand side of the road for the next mile. The grounds of Guthrie Castle lie beyond the railway embankment, and are reached by a left turn which doubles back around the old station site. The road then emerges from the trees, out into the open for the last mile along a flat section that constantly bends gently to the left throughout. Just after crossing the old railway, the road ends at a staggered crossroads on the A933 near Friockheim. Left turns towards Brechin, right continues on to Arbroath and a dogleg to the right leads into the village on the B965.

History

The original start point of the A932 was at the crossroads where the A94 and A926 meet today. At the time, the A94 turned from west to north here, the A929 headed south and the A932 ran east along West High Street into the town centre. West High Street becomes East High Street, which reaches the East Port traffic lights, from where the A932 still continues east. The diversion around the town centre onto the former route of the B9113 happened no more recently than the opening of the bypass, and may have pre-dated it. Other than some localised realignments and widening, the rest of the route seems to be unchanged from when it was first classified in 1922.

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