A993

The A993 runs through Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth, creating a short cut for the A904 which runs through the centre of the town. The road was created in the late 1960s as an upgrade of the B9110, using existing and realigned roads, and provides relief for the convoluted A904.

Route

Approaching the western end of the A993

At its eastern end, the route starts at a junction in Muirhouses with the A904, which TOTSOs right to head into the centre of town. The A993 continues ahead on Grahamsdyke Road, winding in a westerly direction, with fields remaining to the south, but housing estates growing to the north. A roundabout gives access to one of the estates, and then the route sweeps round to the north, leaving the fields behind. As Grahamsdyke Road sweeps back round to head west once more, it passes between older detached houses, but the former council estates lie behind them to the south, and occasionally a couple of houses squeeze through. The road is wide, even with parked cars sitting haphazardly along either side.

Just after passing a large triangular green dotted with trees, the A993 becomes Dean Road, which continues west in a series of short straights. A larger park with playing fields is passed before the signalised crossroads with the A706, which terminates a short distance to the north on the A904 in Bo'ness town centre. Dean Road continues west in a long straight, before again briefly turning north in a sweeping double bend. A short distance on, the A993 comes to an end at another TOTSO junction with the A904. The A993 therefore has priority at both ends with the A904 having to TOTSO, so it is strange that the old road number still goes through the centre of Bo'ness with the bypass having a different number.

History

The A993 number first appears on maps in 1971, but maps from 1968/9 show the upgrades from the B9110 underway and complete, so it seems likely that the route was renumbered at some point between 1969 and 1971 and about the time that a bypass of Bo'ness was formed from the former B9110 with a new bypass at Muirhouse and a deviation at Drum Road. It is shown on July 1971 OS Route Planner map but not on July 1970 edition. One odd thing, however, is that a number of lower numbers seem to have still been unallocated at the time, so why such a high number was issued is unclear.

Prior to being improved, the route now taken by the A993 was the B9110. However, a number of improvements were carried out, as follows. At the eastern end, the B9110 started further north and turned off the A904 to follow Acre Road, which is now a dead end. Beyond the roundabout, the double bend was previously much sharper, using the right angled bend in Drum Road and then Drumside Terrace and the service road to turn back to the west. A similar situartion occurred at the western end, where a right angled bend existed at the Provost Road junction, with the footpaths across the grass showing the approximate line of the old road. Finally, rather than curving back to the west, the B9110 continued north on Snab Lane, which is now a cul-de-sac connected to the A993 by a footpath. The curve at this end appears to have been added in the early 1960s, but at that time the A904 maintained priority, the current T junction being a later re-design.