Swallow Roundabout

Swallow Roundabout is at the western end of the Dundee Kingsway, from where the A85 Riverside Drive leads in to the City. It was named after the nearby hotel, however the hotel was renamed as the Landmark Hotel, became the DoubleTree Hotel in 2013, and reverted to the Landmark Hotel in 2020. It remains to be seen whether anyone will start referring to the junction as the Landmark roundabout. It is, however, known by many visitors as the Invergowrie Roundabout, due to its proximity to the village. However, that name more correctly refers to another nearby roundabout.

The roundabout is a simple four arm junction, despite carrying a lot of traffic, destined both for Dundee and beyond to Aberdeen and North East Scotland. The A90 is dualled in both directions, the 20 miles run to Perth being free from roundabouts and traffic lights, whilst the five miles northeast around the Kingsway are littered with such obstructions. The Swallow Roundabout is, then, the end of the open road, with its connection via Perth to the Motorway network, and the start of a slower (if often more stressful) way of life as traffic battles around Dundee and then heads north for Aberdeen.

The other two routes are the A85, which heads east, never far from the Tay, into the heart of Dundee, coming to an end near the Tay Road Bridge. Opposite it is the unclassified road that heads north west to Liff, passing the Hotel of many names just beyond the junction.

History

The current roundabout was built when the west side of the Kingsway was dualled, and replaced an older junction, which still survives. Before the A90 reached Dundee, it was the A85 that was the through route, running east from Perth into the city centre. The Kingsway was numbered the A972, and the two met at the old Invergowrie Roundabout. This still survives a little to the south west of the Swallow Roundabout, and is accessible from the westbound A90, providing a link from Invergowrie village.

The old A85 line was down Main Street in Invergowrie village, and this survives almost unchanged, but the other two approaches have been reduced to single lanes, snaking across the old carriageways to provide the best curvature for these new sliproads. This, of course, means that over a third of the roundabout is now surplus to requirements, but it is retained and used as a layby, complete with litter bins provided, and regularly used by lorry drivers for their breaks.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A90	Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Crianlarich, Inverness
A90	Perth
A85	City Centre, Tay Bridge, Dundee Technology Park, Ninewells Hosp., Airport, Harbour
C11	Liff