B9157

The B9157 is a largely rural road in south Fife.

Route

Looking west

The route begins at the Braefoot Roundabout on the A921 just west of the village of Aberdour. A fourth exit from the roundabout leads south to the Braefoot Marine Terminal. The B9157 heads north and passes under the Fife Circle railway line and winds its undulating way through the countryside for a few miles, catching out the unwary with blind bends, dips, crests and hidden junctions. A long right hand bend curves around the trees hiding a small lochan at the Cullaloe Nature Reserve. This used to be a reservoir, and there are hints that the road may have been diverted to the north west when the reservoir was dug, having formerly taken a more direct route. Soon after, the route meets the A909 at Bernards Smithy Crossroads, where the A-road gives way to it, the B9157 straightens out and continues more-or-less in a straight line, climbing gently into the hills. Along the way it passes Orrock Quarry, from which it gets its informal name of the Quarry Road.

A scattering of houses and farms sit along the roadside, and a couple of side roads turn off, but this is one of the more rural routes in this part of Fife. There is a long gentle descent from the quarry, with the sea almost always visible as a blue stripe on the horizon. The road steepens as it gets further east and then passes again under the Fife Circle line.Now known as Invertiel Road, it rejoins the A921 at traffic lights at Linktown on the south side of Kirkcaldy, where it turns left to head north through the suburb on Bridge Street. After passing a football stadium it becomes Pratt Street and then there's a sharp left-right zigzag back under the railway. Now on Abbotshall Road, the B9157 skirts Beveridge Park to end at a roundabout. Left is the B925, which heads back west, roughly parallel to the B9157, whilst the other two directions are numbered A910.

History

There are some unanswered questions in the history of the road now carrying the B9157 number. The north-south section in Kirkcaldy was originally the B924, becoming the A907 by 1932. The remaining section was originally unclassified, although it also become the A907 east of the A909 before 1932. At this point the section from Aberdour to Bernards Smithy was numbered as the B924, which raises the question as to whether the whole of what is now the B9157 was once, albeit briefly, the B924, prior to the A907 being extended in the early 1930s. The western end, at Aberdour, subsequently became the A987, leaving the B924 number to be re-used elsewhere. The road numbering was all changed again in the late 1980s with the coming of the A92 Regional Road between Halbeath and Kirkcaldy.

The general line of the route has changed little over the years, The most noticeable change is to the Bernards Smithy Crossroads junction with the A909, which was originally a straight crossroads. However the northbound arm was realigned a few yards west to change it to a much safer staggered junction, with priority given to the lesser road. Traces of the original layout can still be seen; the original stretch of roadway is now used by a local farmer.