B9085
B9085 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Davidson's Mains (NT206751) | |||
To: | Crewe Toll (NT229757) | |||
Via: | Quality Street, Ferry Road (west) | |||
Distance: | 1.7 miles (2.7 km) | |||
Meets: | A90, A902 | |||
Former Number(s): | A902 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the B9085 that ran within the Shetland Islands, see B9085 (Shetland).
The B9085 is a suburban rute in north west Edinburgh.
Route
The route starts on the A90 at the large signalised Quality St. Junction at Davidson's Mains and heads north up Quality Street. After less than a quarter of a mile it turns right at a mini roundabout into Main Street. An odd scattering of shops is interspersed with houses to start with, but these soon peter out and the road becomes entirely residential again. Before long the road crosses a disused railway line (now a cycle track) on a bridge and drops down to a roundabout. This bridge has a 7.5T weight limit, which is the main reason why this route was downgraded from the A902 in the 1960s. Main Street is also rather narrow in places, making it less suitable as a major artery in and out of Edinburgh.
The roundabout is unusual, in that the B9085, Main Street, approaches parallel with Silverknowes Road East, and both are directly opposite the only other arm, Ferry Road. Ferry Road is the route of the B9085 as it continues east, city-bound. The route is almost dead-straight, passing through a variety of council housing, starting with flats built in the 1960s and 1970s, but slowly changing to inter-war houses. All are set back from the main road, with service roads providing access, and separated by wide lawns or rows of trees. The exceptions to this are the schools and health centre on the north side of the road, and a little further on the short shopping parade on the south, where a parking area replaces the trees.
After about a mile, the route kinks to the north, eating into the grass area as it widens for the signalised junction with West Granton Access, a new road following an old docks branch of Edinburgh's railway system. The B9085 turns right here, to pass under a footbridge which has replaced the old railway bridge. It is then a very short run to the end of the route at the Crewe Toll Roundabout on the A902.
History
Much of the route lies on the historic route from Leith to South Queensferry, which ran along Ferry Road to Davidson's Mains. It then stayed north of the present A90 Queensferry Road, by following Barnton Road, passing through what is now luxurious suburban housing, and crossing Barnton Links to Cramond. It then crossed Whitehouse Road to follow Brae Park Road to the old Cramond bridge near Barnton. This route is now part of the NCN1 cycle route. The importance of this old road started to wane with the opening of the current A90 route as part of the new town development around 200 years ago, with the old New Cramond Bridge being built in 1820-23. The B9085 therefore, like the A902 before it, has always turned at Davidsons Mains to reach the A90, as the most logical route west.
The B9085 was originally the route of the A902, a situation that survived well into the 1970s before the A902 was re-routed south onto the former A982. However, apart from a few extra junctions and traffic lights, very little seems to have changed since.