B9097

The B9097 is a secondary route in east Scotland. It was originally unclassified but had come into existence by 1932.

Route

Gairney Bank

The route starts on the A977 opposite the filling station in Crook of Devon and heads east across fields with a few roadside houses. It follows a series of long straights, the first two each approximately a mile long, interspersed with sharp bends, as it crosses largely flat farmland. There are no places of any size on this section and only a few buildings, making the large barns at Mawmill particularly prominent. As the road continues it becomes more winding, before bearing sharply right at Carsegour to cross the Gairney Water. It then turns left at Cleish to follow the southern edge of the valley eastwards, undulating along the lower slopes of the Cleish Hills. A mile further on, the M90 is crossed at J5 and the B9097 reaches a T-junction on the B996 (former A90) immediately afterwards, with the steep slopes of Benarty Hill rising immediately ahead.

There's a brief multiplex to the left, after which the B9097 regains its number and its easterly route. The hill rises steeply to the right but the road continues along the flatter terrain beneath. High hedges block much of the view, but a slight crest provdes a glimpse of Loch Leven and the Lomond Hills beyond. The Loch Leven Visitor Centre sits to the right, and then the road climbs a little and at last the trees peel back to reveal the Loch , lying just a few metres down the steep slope below the road. It runs along above the shore of Loch Leven for a little while before making a beeline for the B920, which is met at a wide T-junction. There's then a multiplex to the right for nearly half a mile into hillier terrain.

After reappearing the B9097 heads roughly southeast then east along two long straights and goes over a disused railway line. It then follows a wide, modern road around the edge of a reclaimed opencast mine, with long curves and short straights. Small trees have been planted to either side, hiding the fields, and any sight of the quarry site from view. At length, the route reaches journey's end at another wide T-junction on the B921.

History

The B9097 was originally unclassified. It had come into existence by 1932 but only west of the B920. It was subsequently extended directly east in 1935 to end on the B921 on the western edge of Kinglassie. This eastern extension was severed by an opencast mine which opened in the late 1950s and grew steadily, consuming the surrounding landscape to become 'the biggest hole in Europe', or so it is claimed. As a result, the road was moved south to allow for the expansion.

Prior to being re-routed, the road continued straight from the sub station, rather than curving to the south. It then met one of the colliery railways roughly in the middle of where the quarry pond now is and curved a little to the north, staying side by side with the rails. Although also re-routed, the line of this railway is still in place, and passes under the B921 near Kinglassie. The road curved away from the rails just before the B921, and ended in Parkneuk Plantation, the old road line still partially visible as a crop mark in the field. The B9097 was moved onto its present route in the late 1980s as part of the pit expansion.

West of the B920 the B9097's route has been far more stable. The only major rerouting took place when construction of the M90 severed the road's original line. This ran further south, and survives as a dead end on either side of the motorway, the eastern portion being the access to the Green Acres Chalet Park. The new road followed the pre-existing Fruix Road (also severed, apart from a footbridge) as far as the junction, and then took a new route across the fields to provide room for the junction. At the other end of the brief B996 multiplex, the B9097 originally had a triangular junction, perhaps a necessity due to the gradient of the railway bridge immediately to the east. However, this has also been realigned to a regular T junction, with no evidence of the former layout surviving.