Ballat Crossroads
Ballat Crossroads | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
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Location | |||
Spittal of Ballat | |||
County | |||
Stirlingshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Stirling | |||
Junction Type | |||
Offset Crossroads | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A81, A811 | |||
Junctions related to the A811 | |||
The Ballat Crossroads (also known as Ballat Toll) is the junction of the A81 and the A811 at the Spittal of Ballat. The two roads cross at an acute angle, albeit less sharply than they used to. For many years, the A811 was a primary route and yet it was forced to give way to the non-primary A81 through the junction. This was exacerbated when the junction was re-profiled to make A811 traffic dog-leg across the A81.
The original alignment of this junction was a sharp crossroads, with the eastbound A811 immediately crossing the Balloch & Stirling Branch of the LNER on the level. Sometime after the railway line closed, the eastbound arm of the A811 was realigned further north to try and produce a safer junction. This means that the eastern arm of the A811 has had its junction moved north on the A81, with the road between the two junctions being substantially widened. The extra width has provided two right turn lanes in the centre of the A81 and also acceleration lanes for left turning traffic from the A811. However, these have recently been hatched down to effectively force left turning traffic to stop at a normal give way line. The widening also extends to the south to provide right turn lanes for the properties immediately to the south of the junction.
The northern junction also has a deceleration lane for left turning traffic, whilst the acute angle remaining at the southern junction means that a short slip road is provided for traffic passing from the southern A81 to the western A811 and vice versa. A garage was positioned in the middle of this fork between the two roads; it's now a coffee shop.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Erskine Bridge, Drymen (B858), Loch Lomond, Argyll Forest | ||
Stirling | ||
Aberfoyle, The Trossachs | ||
Glasgow |
Ballat Crossroads | ||
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