Longman Roundabout
Longman Roundabout | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
Aerial view from the East | |||
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Location | |||
Inverness | |||
County | |||
Inverness-shire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Transport Scotland | |||
Junction Type | |||
Roundabout | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A9, A82 | |||
Junctions related to the Moray Firth Tourist Route | |||
The Longman Roundabout is the northern terminus of the A82 on the A9, in sight of the Kessock Bridge just half a mile to the north. It is a simple four-way roundabout junction, with freeeflow links for A82-A9N and A9N-A82. The fourth arm is the foreshore road, Stadium Road, which leads to the Inverness Caledonian Thistle stadium. It is perhaps surprising that this junction is not grade-separated in favour of the A9, as the Raigmore Interchange a mile to the south was built at the same time, and was. Perhaps that junction was (rightly) predicted to be the busier of the two, although the Longman Roundabout often grinds to a halt at peak times.
To try and relieve the issues with the roundabout, signals were installed in 2013, and with adjustments to timings since they do seem to have made a difference, although there can still be major hold ups at times. At the same time as the signals were installed, the exit from Stadium Road was changed so that traffic could only turn left, on a separate filter lane onto the A9 south. A bus lane is provided directly onto the roundabout, but as a rule is only used when events are held at the stadium. This removed the need to have full time four way signals, so reducing the red time on the other routes.
Future upgrade
Transport Scotland's A9/A96 Connections Study recommends a flyover for the A9 at Longman Roundabout in all of the proposed upgrades. This seems likely to proceed, and while the timescale is uncertain, it could be assumed that the 2025 deadline for dualling the A9 from Perth to Inverness is a good guess. The proposed new junction appears predominantly to use land to the north east of the existing A9 line, with a dualled flyover over an enlarged roundabout, and full slips as at Raigmore to the south. The northbound slip roads would stay roughly on the line of the existing northbound carriageway, pushing the flyover over the existing southbound carriageway, with the new southbound slips on the wasteground beyond.
In late May 2018, Transport Scotland published five design solutions for consultation:
- Diamond Interchange, presumably signal controlled
- Diamond / Dumbbell hybrid with the roundabout at the Stadium end, presumably with signals at the city side.
- Dumbbell Interchange
- Diamond Hybrid with folded sliproads on the Stadium side, presumably with signals at the city side.
- Full GSJ Roundabout.
The fourth of the above options featured an overbridge over the A9, all others saw the A9 passing over the A82. Due to the availability of land surrounding the junction, all options seem to move the junction slightly towards the Kessock Bridge, thus straightening the A82 a little on the approach. At the same time, the new line of the A9 seems be moved slightly further from the city and closer to the back of the stadium, albeit in a gently curve. This is likely to be necessary to allow the junction to be built while maintaining traffic flows on what is a critical interchange in the Highland road network.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Perth, Inverness Airport, Nairn, Aberdeen (A96) | ||
Thurso, Wick, Ullapool (A835) | ||
Inv'ness, City Centre, Longman Ind. Estate, Ft. William | Moray Firth Tourist Route | |
Football Ground | Not marked locally |
Links