A948

The A948 is a short route which runs from Ellon to New Deer, although it used to continue further. It is notable that the A948 connects to no other A roads except at either end, and it only manages junctions with 3 numbered B roads throughout its length. The A948/A981 corridor is a good alternative route to Fraserburgh, as the A90/A952/A90 route is more congested.

Route

The A948 now begins at a roundabout at the North Ellon Junction of the A90 and heads west, meeting the A920 at another roundabout a short distance away. It then continues along the town's northern bypass, curving round the industrial estate and then housing estates. This section is very straight with good visibility as would be expected from a modern bypass. Towards the end of the bypass, the road curves to the right to rejoin the old A948's line Northwards from Ellon, which comes in from the left on Golf Road. The road then climbs a blind hill, leading onto a half mile straight, followed by a blind, sharp, double bend. A series of short straights, one with a picturesque tunnel of trees then lead the road north across an undulating agricultural landscape, with a sharper double bend as the road crosses the shoulder of Kirk Hill. The shortness of the straights, and frequent slight crests and dips limit overtaking opportunities, but the road is otherwise well aligned.

South of Auchnagatt

As the road continues north, the straights become shorter until the road is just a meandering series of bends as it passes Mill of Elrick and continues to Auchnagatt. In the middle of this small village there is a junction with the B9030 to Old Deer, and the strange layout is a result of the old railway line which the A948 crossed here, now a long distance path and cycle way. The junction was redesigned in the late 1990s to remove the double bend over the old bridge on the A948, but the B9005 gained a bend in the process! North of Auchnagatt, the road winds around Whin Hill and then finds a long straight at Nethermuir, with the B9016 turning right mid way along. At the end of the straight, the road kinks to the north west, and passes the junction with the the B9028, which is a short single-carriageway bypass of New Deer, and connects to the A981 at its other end.

The A948, meanwhile, slowly turns round to head west and enter New Deer. Auchreddie Road is long and nearly straight, lined with old detached houses. The centre of the village lies to the north, accessed via the A981, which is met at a crossroads along with the B9170. The two A roads now both terminate here - the through route becomes the B9170 in either direction, the former A948 continuing west to Cuminestown and Turriff.

History

The southern end of the A948 has moved a couple of times. The original southern end of the A948 was on the A92 (now A920) in the centre of Ellon. However, when the A92 (now A90) was rerouted to bypass the town the old route was renumbered, with the A948 extended south to what is now South Ellon Junction on the A90 (which took over the A92 number in the 1990s) at the end of its most northerly dual carriageway. However, in the early 2000s, a northerly bypass of Ellon was built, and this has now taken the A948 number. The bypassed section of A948 that was originally the A92 is now the B9005 and the rest has been declassified.

The A948 originally continued west of New Deer

At the opposite end of the route, the A948 used to extend westwards beyond New Deer, meeting the A947 just south of Turriff. However this section was renumbered in 1973 or 1974 and is now part of the B9170. New Deer was at one time a crossroads of two A roads, as the A981 extended south from there to Inverurie. This is also now the B9170, which partly explains the odd routing of the B9170 and the unusual situation of an A road apparently changing number halfway through.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Ellon - Auchnagatt - New Deer - Cuminestown - Darra