B9040

This article is about the current B9040 from Burghead to Lossiemouth.
For the former B9040 on Orkney, see B9040 (Orkney).

Route : Burghead - Lossiemouth

Covesea

The B9040 is an important and popular coastal route linking the villages and scattered farms along this part of the Moray Coast.

Starting on the B9013 at the south end of Burghead, the road climbs through a sharp double bend to find a straight and level route east along the coast to Hopeman. The sea is not always visible, with the ground undulating and trees and buildings often lining the road.

After passing through the small village of Hopeman, the B9012 is met at a T junction, and then the road proceeds eastwards in a dead-straight roller-coaster route to the boundary fence of RAF Lossiemouth. Here, with the coast bearing south a touch, the road follows suit and curves between the edge of the air base and the golf course, through which it passes before reaching the junction with the B9135 on the edge of Lossiemouth.

Initially remaining as the coastal road, the B9040 then turns inland slightly to pass through this grid-iron town. Following Queen Street, the road passes along the northern edge of the town's spacious square, before dropping slightly to terminate on the A941 not far from that route's terminus at the old harbour, now a popular marina. The view across to the beaches at the mouth of the River Lossie on this final stretch are fantastic! However, one thing to bear in mind is that the nearby air base can make the town a very noisy place indeed.

History

The B9040 was created around 1960, made necessary by the creation of the RAF Lossiemouth Airbase on the relatively flat landscape once occupied by the B9135, which road was severed by the runway. Our road appears to have been built on the alignments of a series of lanes and tracks that ran along the coast between Hopeman and Lossiemouth.

At the end of the 20th century in order to promote the B9040 as a main coastal route, it acquired the original route of the B9013, most of the western section of the B9012, and the eastern end of the B9135.