Merchiston Roundabout
Merchiston Roundabout | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
| |||
Location | |||
Falkirk | |||
County | |||
Stirlingshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Falkirk | |||
Junction Type | |||
Roundabout | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A9, B906 | |||
The small Merchiston Roundabout lies on the A9 to the north west of Falkirk and has an interesting history. Until the late 1980s, Merchiston Road was the only road here, providing a through route past the schools to the south and houses to the north, even if it wasn't the best route for through traffic. Then, in the 1980s, plans arose to provide a relief road around the north of Falkirk to take the A9 out of the town centre, and so Merchiston Road was upgraded to the south of the roundabout. At the same time Ronades Road was connected up along a former railway line to provide a through route to the north.
Maps from the period are a little confusing, and not that easy to date precisely, but it appears that the eastern section of what is the A9 came a few years later, and also uses a former railway line to cut through the north of the town. At this point, a 3 arm roundabout was installed with both ends of Merchiston Road stopped up and accessed from new junctions away from the roundabout. Thus the A9 was removed from the town centre and given a new route around Falkirk.
The most recent change to the roundabout came in 2009 when the roundabout was converted into a 4-arm junction, and the southern part of Merchiston Road was reopened. This seems to have been in advance of the redevelopment of the schools area to the south, and saw the A9 moved out to the west to provide better angles between the four exits. The new sweep of the A9 means that it actually crosses directly over the junction, rather than turning the corner at the roundabout. Shortly after this upgrade, Ronaldes Road to the north was upgraded to be a B road - the B906, having previously been unclassified.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Glasgow, Camelon, The Falkirk Wheel, Mariner Centre | ||
(M9), Grangemouth | ||
Larbert, Stenhousemuir, Bainsford | ||
Local Traffic | Merchiston Road |