A82 road

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / GB-A
	A82 road in the UK
	map
	Basic data
Operator:
Start of the street:	Glasgow , Cowcaddens ; ( 55 ° 52 ′ N , 4 ° 16 ′ W )
End of street:	Longman Roundabout near Inverness ; ( 57 ° 30 ′ N , 4 ° 13 ′ W )
Overall length:	268.8 km (167 mi )
Countries :	Scotland
	The A82 between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy , with the Beinn Dorain in the background
	Glasgow
	West Dunbartonshire
	Argyll and Bute
	Stirling
	Argyll and Bute
	Highland

The A82 road is an A-road in Scotland . It runs from Glasgow via Fort William to Inverness and is one of the most important road links to the Western Highlands .

course

From Glasgow, where the A82 begins in the Cowcaddens district on the northern edge of the city center, the A82 first crosses the M8 , which circles the city center to the west and with which the A82 is linked in an extensive junction. It then leads as a multi-lane main thoroughfare under the street name Great Western Road to the northwest through the districts of Kelvinbridge and Hyndland . From Drumchapel , apart from two roundabouts , the A82 runs free of intersections until shortly before Dumbarton . There is a triangle connection with the A898 road leading to the Erskine Bridge over the Clyde , which continues south of the bridge as the M898 motorway to the M8. As Stirling Road it leads through Dumbarton, north of the city it runs again without cultivation as a bypass west of Alexandria and Balloch to the south end of Loch Lomond .

From Balloch, the A82 follows the west bank of Loch Lomond to the northern tip of the lake. This section is considered scenic, from here the road runs through the Highlands . North of Tarbet , where the A83 branches off to Inveraray and Campbeltown , the West Highland Line runs parallel to the A82. There the bank below the Ben Vorlich becomes very narrow, in this area the A82 Sloy Power Station , a hydroelectric power station , passes . North of Ardlui , the A82 and the railway line leave the bank and follow the River Falloch , the northern tributary of Loch Lomond, towards the northeast in Glen Falloch . From Ardlui, the West Highland Way also accompanies the road. The valley is bordered by mountains such as the Beinn Dubhchraig and the An Caisteal , which have a height of up to 1000 meters.

The A82 in Rannoch Moor

The A82 in Glen Coe

The A82 reaches the Crianlarich road and rail junction via a shallow watershed at the upper end of Glen Falloch . From here the road runs together with the A85 through the Strath Fillan back to the northwest to Tyndrum . The A85 branches off to the west in Tyndrum towards Oban . North of Tyndrum, the A82 continues over the Bridge of Orchy to Loch Tulla, parallel to the West Highland Line and directly north. With the Beinn Dorain she passes one of the most distinctive Munros in this part of the Highlands. While the railway line runs north of Bridge of Orchy along the eastern edge of Rannoch Moor , the A82 passes the moor in its central part at Loch Bà and Loch na h-Achlaise . The A82 runs here through wide and uninhabited heather and moorland. North of Loch Bà, the road turns west. Via the lonely Kings House Hotel , where the West Highland Way crosses the road, the A82 reaches the east end of the scenic Glen Coe . Directly below the steep north-east face of Buachaille Etive Mòr , the road leads down through the valley to Glencoe on the south bank of Loch Leven . West of Ballachulish , the A82 passes Loch Leven over the Ballachulish Bridge, which opened in 1975 . Previously, the A82 ran along the south and north banks of Loch Leven via Kinlochleven , but could be shortened via a ferry connection at Ballachulish. From the bridge, the A82 runs along the east bank of Loch Linnhe to Fort William , the largest town in the Western Highlands.

On the northern outskirts of Fort William, the A830, also known as the Road to the Isles , branches off at the Ben Nevis Distillery in the direction of Glenfinnan and Mallaig . The A82 runs from Fort William in the Great Glen to its terminus in Inverness . As far as Spean Bridge , it again runs parallel to the West Highland Line. The A86 branches off at Spean Bridge and connects the A82 eastwards to the A9 , the main north-south road link in the Highlands, at Kingussie . The A82 itself runs from Spean Bridge past the Commando Memorial further northeast on the east bank of Loch Lochy .

Swing bridge on the A82 over the Caledonian Canal at Fort Augustus

The Caledonian Canal , which the A82 crosses over a swing bridge at North Laggan, runs parallel . On the north bank of Loch Oich , the A82 continues via Invergarry , where the A87 branches off in the direction of Kyle of Lochalsh , to the next crossing of the Caledonian Canal via a swing bridge at Aberchalder from 1932, which the listed Bridge of Oich from 1932 Replaced in 1854. The A82 crosses the canal a third time in Fort Augustus at the south end of Loch Ness . From Fort Augustus, the A82 follows the entire west bank of Loch Ness, first to Invermoriston , where the A887 joins, which provides a connection to the A87 for traffic between Skye and Inverness. Past Urquhart Castle via Drumnadrochit , the A82 remains on the west bank of Loch Ness to a few kilometers south of Inverness, which it reaches north of Loch Dochfour . In Inverness, the A82 bypasses the city center east of the River Ness on its west side. It then crosses the river north over the Friars Bridge and leads through the Longman industrial and commercial park to the roundabout of the same name with the A9, its end point.

history

The oldest sections of today's A82 can be traced back to military roads that General George Wade had built in Scotland between 1725 and 1737 in order to be prepared for renewed uprisings by the Jacobites . These include, for example, various sections between Fort William, Fort Augustus and Inverness. However, the military road ran along Loch Ness on the east bank.

Substantial other parts were created according to plans by Thomas Telford in the 1820s. He partially used the old military roads, but improved their guidance in various places. Since then there has been a continuous road connection from Glasgow via Fort William to Inverness, but in various places clearly deviating from the current route of the A82. In 1923 today's A82 was designated for the first time as a main thoroughfare by the Ministry of Transport . During the Great Depression in 1933, with today's tour of Rannoch Moor, a substantial part of the road was rebuilt as emergency work. The old Thomas Telford Street, which replaced the Military Road that ran further west, has served as part of the West Highland Way since 1980.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the road in the greater Glasgow area was expanded and expanded, it received various bypasses, such as at Alexandria and Balloch. During this time the bypass of Fort William was built, for which the former train station of the village was given up and relocated by about one kilometer. In 1975 the ferry over Loch Leven at Ballachulish was replaced by a bridge and the old route of the A82 over Kinlochleven was downgraded to the B863.

Since 2003, the section of the A82 in the Gàidhealtachd area between Tarbet and Inverness has been equipped with bilingual signposts in English and Gaelic .

Expansion measures

Traffic jam on the A82

According to the Scottish Transport Ministry, Transport Scotland, the A82 represents a central lifeline for the western Highlands. The Scottish government is therefore pursuing the goal of modernizing the routing and lane width of the A82, which in many parts still corresponds to the 1920s, especially the A82 in many cases is perceived as a dangerous route with high accident rates. Especially in summer the road is very busy and congested. The northern part of the section on the banks of Loch Lomond between Tarbet and Inverarnan is particularly critical. At Pulpit Rock there was a one-lane bottleneck secured with traffic lights , which was replaced by a new guide in spring 2015. In December 2014 a bypass for Crianlarich was completed.