Nairn

The coastal resort of Nairn lies a little under 20 miles east of Inverness on the Moray Firth. Originally a fishing community and the county town of tiny Nairnshire, the sandy beaches and fresh sea air drew Victorians seeking a different sort of beach holiday. The town remains a destination for tourists, although it has grown and developed as a commuter town to the Highland Capital, and as a employment centre in its own right.

Lying at the junction of the A96 and the A939, the town can be a bottleneck on the Inverness to Aberdeen Trunk Road, even though the A96 has long been routed away from the High Street. In November 2016 draft orders were published for the Nairn Bypass, which will see a dual carriageway A96 built from the edge of Inverness east to beyond Auldearn, running south of Nairn. Combined with plans for large areas of new housing, perhaps even a 'New Town' in the area, this could see Nairn finally step out of Inverness' shadow and become an important service town in its own right.

As mentioned above, the A939 terminates on the A96 to the east of the town centre, after a long journey of stunning scenery and great drivers roads through the mountains from Deeside near Ballater. The B9090 and B9091 also both start in the town, they each run south west, loosely parallel to the A96, before meeting the B9006, which continues the back road into Culloden and so Inverness. A little to the west of the town, the B9092 forks off the A96 and heads out to Ardersier, passing the access to the former Oil fabrication yard. To the east, the small village of Auldearn is served by the B9111, taking the old route of the A96, and the B9101, which connects to the B9090.

There are likely to be many changes to the road numbering around Nairn when the Bypass is built, and whilst it is too early to speculate, the fact that the A939 will cross the new road without a junction suggests that at least part of the former A96 route will become the A939.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A96	Inverness
A96	Aberdeen, Elgin, Forres
A939	Grantown on Spey
B9090	Cawdor
B9091	Croy, Culloden Moor (B9006)
B9092	Ardersier
B9101		route running to the south of the town
B9111	Auldearn