Star.pngStar.pngStar.pngStar grey.pngStar grey.png

Wick

From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Wick
Inbhir Ùige
Location Map ( geo)
Town Centre, Wick - Geograph - 607564.jpg
Town Centre, Wick
Cameraicon.png View gallery (9)
County
Caithness
Highway Authority
Highland
Forward Destination on
A99, A882
Next Primary Destinations
Inverness, Thurso
Places related to the A99
Places related to the A882

Wick is a Fishing port on the east coast of Caithness, just 20 or so miles south of John O'Groats. The town was largely developed by Thomas Telford, and the British Fisheries in the late 18th Century, and is now the second largest town in Caithness. Apart form the fishing industry, there are a number of other industrial areas in and around Wick, and the airport is the most northerly public one on the British Mainland, which offers flights to Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The flatter lands of Caithness (as opposed to the rest of the Highlands) enables some farming in the hinterland around Wick, but today tourism is important to the town, as it lies on the main route north to John o Groats.

Both the A9 and its predecessor the A88 were originally routed through the town, but the A9 has now been diverted to the south west, taking the direct route to Thurso and the Orkney port of Scrabster. Therefore, since the mid 1990s, the A99 has served the town, being primary and trunk from the south, but non primary to the north as far as John o Groats. The A882 heads west to Thurso, as does the B874 which turns off the A99 at the airport, and the B876, which starts at a TOTSO on a little further from the town. In the town centre itself, the B9159 follows the river out to the harbour, and is the last survivor of a number of short classified roads that have existed in the past.

As seen in the table below, then, Wick has seen an unusually high number of short, and short-lived classified roads, mostly designed to serve the harbour area. The B874 originally served it, but was upgraded to be the A896, and then the A8002, although there is no apparent reason why the number was changed, and mapping evidence is inconclusive as to whether they followed the same route. At one time, a spur of the A882 also ran into the harbour area, whilst the A8002 also appears to have served the station across the A9 (as was), explaining why it carried a zone 8 number in place of the expected zone 9 number. The A9, which is now the A99, was also originally the A88, when the whole of the far north was in zone 8.

Routes

Route To Notes

A99

Inverness (A9)

A882

Watten, Thurso (A9)

A99

John o' Groats

B874

Sibster, Gillock

B876

Castletown

A9

John o' Groats now A99

A9

Inverness now A9

A88

Thurso now A99 and B876/A882, depending on when

A88

Inverness now A99

A882

John o' Groats now A99

A896

link to harbour in the early '30s

A8002

link to harbour post-1938

B874

link to harbour in the 1920s

B875

John o' Groats now A99

B9159

link to harbour, forming loop off A9

Links




Wick
Sections
Junctions
Crossings
Roads
Related Pictures
View gallery (9)
A9 A99 Sign - Coppermine - 23080.jpgTown Centre, Wick - Geograph - 607564.jpgService Bridge, Wick - Geograph - 3281508.jpgB874-snow1.jpgWick- harbour bridge - Geograph - 596890.jpg
Places in Scotland
Major CitiesAberdeen • Dundee • Edinburgh • Glasgow • Inverness • Perth • Stirling
Primary DestinationsArbroath • Ayr • Braemar • Campbeltown • Coldstream • Crianlarich • Dumfries • East Kilbride • Elgin • Erskine Bridge • Forfar • Forth Road Bridge • Fort William • Fraserburgh • Galashiels • Greenock • Hawick • Irvine • Jedburgh • Kilmarnock • Kincardine Bridge • Kirkcaldy • Kyle of Lochalsh • Mallaig • Montrose • Newtonmore • Oban • Paisley • Peebles • Peterhead • St Andrews • Stranraer • Tay Bridge • Thurso • Uig • Ullapool • Wick
Other PlacesAberchirder • Aberdeen Airport • Aberfeldy • Aberfoyle • Abington • Airdrie • Alford • Alloa • Alness • Annan • An Tairbeart • Applecross • Ardrossan • Arrochar • Aviemore • Bàgh a' Chaisteil • Ballater • Banchory • Banff • Bathgate • Bowmore • Brechin • Brodick • Buckie • Callander • Castle Douglas • Clydebank • Coatbridge • Comrie • Connel • Coupar Angus • Craigellachie • Craignure • Cromarty • Cumbernauld • Cumnock • Cupar • Dalbeattie • Dalkeith • Dingwall • Dornoch • Dufftown • Dumbarton • Dunbar • Dunblane • Dunfermline • Dunoon • Duns • Durness • Edinburgh Airport • Falkirk • Forres • Girvan • Glasgow Airport • Glenluce • Glenrothes • Gourock • Grantown on Spey • Gretna • Haddington • Hamilton • Helensburgh • Huntly • Inverkip • Inveraray • Inverurie • John o' Groats • Keith • Kelso • Kinlochewe • Kinross • Kirkcudbright • Kirkintilloch • Kirkwall • Kirriemuir • Lairg • Lanark • Largs • Leith • Lerwick • Linlithgow • Livingston • Loch Baghasdail • Loch nam Madadh • Lochgilphead • Lochinver • Lockerbie • Moffat • Motherwell • Nairn • New Galloway • Newton Stewart • Pitlochry • Port Askaig • Port Ellen • Port Glasgow • Portpatrick • Portree • Prestwick Airport • Renfrew • Rosyth • Rothesay • Rutherglen • Selkirk • Stonehaven • Stornoway • Stromness • Tain • Tobermory • Tongue • Wemyss Bay • Whithorn • Wigtown


SABRE - The Society for All British and Irish Road Enthusiasts
Discuss - Digest - Discover - Help