Inshes Junction
Inshes Junction | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
The junction in Winter | |||
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Location | |||
Inverness | |||
County | |||
Inverness-shire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Transport Scotland | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A9, A8082, B9006 | |||
Junctions related to the A8082 | |||
Junctions related to the B9006 | |||
Junctions related to the Highland Tourist Route | |||
This is a complex junction incorporating the Inshes Roundabout outside Tesco, and two spurs to provide access to the A9. The northbound A9 is served by a spur directly from the roundabout, with a LiLo junction on to the A9. This part of the junction functions comparatively well, although the same cannot always be said for the other half. Southbound traffic has to detour along the B9006 to cross the A9 and so reaches a set of slow traffic lights at a crossroads to access the spur to the A9. Despite recent upgrades and capacity improvements related to the construction of the new college site, in peak times, traffic leaving the A9 can still be queued back almost to the Raigmore Interchange to the north.
Returning to the roundabout, this is a 6 arm junction where the A8082 and B9006 cross. The fifth arm is the access to the Inshes Retail Park, particularly the Tesco store which sits alongside the roundabout, whilst the final exit is the much quieter access to the regional Police Headquarters and neighbouring housing estate. The presence of Raigmore Hospital a short distance to the west on the B9006 also means that a lot of traffic heading for the hospital has to negotiate this junction. With so many exits, and so much traffic, lane management on the approaches is critical, but for those unaccustomed to the junction it is easy to find yourself in the wrong lane, and so incur the wrath of other motorists.
History
The line of the B9006 is the old route of the A9 here, which also used the existing southbound slips for the new dual carriageway, the current overbridge having been built offline to the north. When Originally built the junction was a staggered cross roads with a small gap in the middle of the A9. Unsurprisingly this didnt last long and the bridge over the A9 was built circa 1982.
The other part of the old A9 is now abandoned, running alongside the entrance to Tesco. However, before the construction of the A8082 and retail park, this was the northbound A9 sliproads, the current ones being built as part of the new road, sometime after the 1988 OS Landranger map was produced.
Future
This junction is likely to be redeveloped in the future, with plans for the new road from Inshes on to the A96 at the Eastfield Way Retail Park progressing. The current construction of the West Link to the south, taking the A8082 across the River Ness and Canal to the A82 on the southern edge of the city will also change the flows of traffic at this junction, opening up new routes to the retail parks and Hospital from the south. One of the older proposals would have seen the Tesco Store being demolished to make way for the new road - perhaps why the plan hasn't come to fruition yet!
The current plans are less severe, and include a variety of options. The dualled A9-A96 link has been dropped, but a new single carriageway 'development' road is likely to be built, from a revised Inshes junction across to the Inverness Retail Park Roundabout on the A96. Only one of the options still under consideration seems to see any of the existing slips replaced, and that only for the southbound slips. All the other designs see the junction improved by the construction of an additional A9 overbridge to the south to reduce the traffic flow over the existing structure.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Perth | ||
Wick, Inverness, Ft. William (A82), Ullapool (A835) | ||
Hilton, Cultduthel | formerly B8082 | |
Culloden, Croy | ||
Culcabock, Raigmore Hospital, Kingsmills | ||
Inshes Retail Park | ||
Police HQ, Drakies |