Dunfermline
Dunfermline Dùn Phàrlain | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
The B916 looking towards the town centre | |||
| |||
County | |||
Fife | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Fife | |||
Transport Scotland Roads | |||
M90, A823(M), A92(M), A92 | |||
Places related to the M90 | |||
Places related to the A92 | |||
Places related to the A823 | |||
Places related to the A907 | |||
Dunfermline is a small city towards the western end of Fife. The city has an ancient connection to Scottish Royalty, with the Abbey and Ruinous Palace becoming one of the seats of the Scottish Monarchy around the time of the Norman Conquest in England. As such, Dunfermline has long been styled as a 'City', but only gained the status in 2022 for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee. The Abbey and city centre sit on a low knoll above the small tower burn, and form a historic city centre nucleus in what is now Fife's largest settlement. Most of this expansive urban area is to the south and east of the centre, taking in Halbeath to the east and bordering Rosyth and Inverkeithing to the south, so that there is a nearly continuous built up area all the way to the banks of the River Forth and the bridges.
The main road serving the city is the M90 motorway, which forms an eastern bypass. It loosely follows the former route of the A90, which also passed to the east of the city. A spur from the M90 is the A823(M), which leads to the north-south A823 that runs around the city centre and continues north into Perthshire. This short spur motorway is the only built part of a series of plans to provide an east-west Fife motorway, the final result of which is the A92 dual carriageway which leaves the M90 at Halbeath and heads east, but not a motorway. The A823, meanwhile, is a stunning drive to the north, climbing through Glen Devon, before crossing the A9 at Gleneagles, and continuing towards Crieff
The A907 provides an east-west route through the city centre, continuing west to Stirling, whilst the A994 also heads west to meet the A985 an important, albeit single carriageway, route between the Kincardine Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge. The recent construction of a Tesco store on brownfield land north of the city centre saw changes to the junctions in the centre, particularly on the short multiplex between the A907 and A823. Further west, the A907 TOTSOs off the A994, but signage diverts traffic away from the occasionally narrow William Street, which is the line of the A907 onto side streets.
Elsewhere in the city, a number of B roads provide links through the suburbs, with most of them continuing out of town, either into open country or in the case of the B980, down into Rosyth. Dunfermline, then, has never really been at an important crossroads in the road network, with the main routes generally bypassing the town. However, its historic significance has generated a lot of traffic to and from the town in the past, and today as the largest urban area in Fife, with ready access to Edinburgh, via the Queensferry Crossing, that traffic volume increases as each year passes.
History
Carnegie Drive
This was the Northern Link Road. The 0.24 mile dual carriageway from Ingliss Street to Holyrood Place (Sinclair Gardens Roundabout) was in progress in 1972 per the 1972 Scottish Development Department Report but not shown in the 1974 report indicating a 1973 completion.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
The NORTH, Perth | ||
The SOUTH, Edinburgh, Forth Road Bridge | Soon to be routed over Queensferry Crossing | |
Short spur connecting to the A92 | ||
Kirkcaldy, Perth, Edinburgh (M90) | ||
Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Cowdenbeath (A909), Lochgelly (B9149) | ||
Crieff | Runs through Glen Devon to A9 at Gleneagles | |
Stirling, Alloa | ||
Kincardine Bridge (A985) | ||
Kingseat, Kelty | ||
Aberdour (A921), Dalgety Bay | ||
Crossgates | ||
Rosyth | ||
Link to NW of town centre | ||
Limekilns | ||
Limekilns | now B9156 | |
Stirling (A907) | now partially B9155 | |
Kincardine | now A994 |