Loaninghead Junction
Loaninghead Junction | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
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Location | |||
Gleneagles | |||
County | |||
Perthshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Transport Scotland | |||
Junction Type | |||
Diamond / Dumbbell Hybrid | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A9, A823 | |||
Junctions related to the A823 | |||
Loaninghead Junction, also called Loaninghead Grade Separated Junction lies a short distance to the south of Gleneagles village, with the famous Golf Resort filling the space between the two. The junction is the only fully Grade Separated Junction on the A9 between Dunblane and Perth, and this is perhaps because of the importance of Gleneagles, which has hosted international events on a number of occasions. The junction has a complicated history, and some of the changes made have related directly to events held at Gleneagles.
History
Originally, the junction between the A9 and the A823 was a simple crossroads. This was sited approximately where the roundabout now lies to the south of the A9. The route of the A823 seems little changed (apart from the addition of the bridge), whilst the A9 originally approached from the west, along the line of the westbound onslip. Immediately to the east of the crossroads, the A9 turned sharply to the north, leaving the westbound offlsip and then curved to line up, roughly, with the eastbound onslip, with the modern A9 quickly resuming the older line. The A9 maintained priority through the junction, but as traffic volumes grew this made it harder for turning traffic to negotiate the junction.
Original GSJ
It seems that the junction was reconstructed as a Grade Separated Junction when the A9 was dualled. This saw a partially folded diamond interchange built, with the eastbound slips running parallel to the main A9, whilst the westbound slips were both in the south east corner of the junction, the onslip tightly folded inside the offslip. All of the sliproads then met the A823 at T Junctions, the westbound slips being paired up, whilst the eastbound slips were staggered to help prevent accidents.
Current GSJ
The Junction appears to have been remodelled in 2010, with major changes to the south of the junction. The eastbound sliproads to the north of the junction were left unchanged. The main reason behind the changes appears to have been to remove the existing at-grade access to Gleneagles Station to the east, and so a new road was built connecting the station to the A823. This was routed to meet a new roundabout that also served the sliproads onto the A9. The other main change was the closing up of the existing tightly curled westbound on slip, and the provision of a new onslip which runs parallel to the A9 from the roundabout. This also necessitated the closure of the access to Bardrill Road a short distance to the west, and the construction of a new access road running through the fields to the south of the A9, which meets the A823 a short distance to the south of the roundabout. The access to Peterhead Farm was similarly moved, as the new sliproad was built on top of the old drive.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Perth | ||
Stirling | ||
Gleneagles, Crieff (A822) | ||
Dunfermline, Glendevon, Muckhart | ||
Gleneagles Station |