The A990 is a short route, which runs mainly along the Moray Coast between Portgordon and Buckie.
Route
Eastern end of Portgordon
The route starts at the Enzie Crossroads on the A98Elgin to Fraserburgh road and heads north towards the coast. It drops gently down through fields, the village of Portgordon coming into view at a slight crest, with the Moray Firth stretching out beyond. In the village the road drops more steeply, comes to a junction with a minor road and turns sharply right (eastwards); the alternative is to go paddling on the pebbly beach! The road now follows the coastline eastwards, before diverging slightly past some sea-front houses. There is then a small one-way system around the parish church, before the road leaves the village and regains the coast. It runs along between the beach and an old railway line, now partly used as the Moray Coast cycle track.
The road soon enters Buckpool, the western part of Buckie, initially as a big wide street, called Great Western Road, but the houses gradually close in with the road getting narrower and narrower, not helped by parked cars, until signs warn of overhanging first-floor bay windows! There are frequent glimpses of the sea to the left, and then after crossing the Burn of Buckie, the road runs on the landward side of the small conservation area of The Yardie, where old fisher cottages are tightly packed in short rows perpendicular to the shore. This is the narrowest point of the A990, before it suddenly opens out once more, and sweeps round to the right, up a slight hill and terminates on the A942, which comes in from the right and carries straight ahead.
History
This road was originally part of the B9016 in the initial classification of 1922, but was upgraded to become an A road before 1932, probably at the same time as the A942 was extended eastwards along the former B9019. The choice of number is intriguing, as at the time the next highest number known to be in use was the A985 in Fife. The A986 on Orkney was issued before 1936, but the A987 not until the 1960s and the A988 and A989 even later.
