B9077

This article is about the current B9077 heading inland from Aberdeen.
For the original B9077 on Shetland Mainland, see B9077 (Shetland).

The B9077, otherwise known as the Great Southern Road, is a secondary route following the River Dee upstream from Aberdeen. After leaving the city it remains to the south of the river.

Route

King George VI Bridge

The route starts at a roundabout on Holburn Street, near Ferryhill Library in Aberdeen. For many years, Holburn Street was the A9013, however, following a review of their classified routes in 2020, Aberdeen downgraded the A9013, leaving the B9077 essentially orphaned, so it now starts on an unclassified road. The street name is already Great Southern Road as the B9077 heads southeast along a wide dual carriageway, with service roads serving the properties to either side. It then turns south at a mini-roundabout and squeezes over the railway bridge over the former Deeside line. The bridge, combined with the junction for Murray Terrace sees the route briefly reduced to S2+1, but it soon regains its central reservation as it passes between Duthie Park and Allenvale Cemetery.

After another roundabout, with the former A945, Riverside Drive, the route crosses the Dee at King George VI Bridge. Just south of the river, it reaches another roundabout, with the B985, West Tullos Road and Provost Watt Drive, where it takes the right-hand turning, now heading south west. It then meets the A92 at the Bridge of Dee Roundabout, at the southeast end of the Bridge of Dee. Here the route becomes single carriageway, as it follows Leggart Terrace as it continues along the south bank of the River Dee. The line of houses between road and river soon ends, and the B9077 leaves the city. This perhaps makes it the shortest route from the city centre to the edge of the expanding urban area, but not necessarily the most useful route out!

As the route heads west away from Aberdeen, there are numerous small settlements along the roadside, and climbing into the hills to the south. Some of these are grouped under the name Banchory-Devenick, beyond which lie Ardoe and Maidenfold, but you would need to live locally to know where the boundaries were. Trees often line the steep river bank below the road, while small fields climb the hills opposite. Then, around a bend, the road suddenly bursts out of the trees and passes under the A90, which soars across both road and river on a massive three span bridge built as part of the AWPR works. There is no direct access onto the new bypass, but just after the bridge, the B979 turns north across Maryculter_Bridge to access the A93 and the A90 at Milltimber on the north bank.

Approaching the junction at Durris Bridge

The two routes then multiplex for a short distance before the B979 turns south towards Stonehaven, while the B9077 continues to wind through the scattered settlements and patches of woodland along the south bank of the Dee. The road is generally well aligned with some long straights, and good sweeping bends, but some of the slight kinks are a little blind, with visibility blocked by trees and hedgerows. As the river slowly meanders away from the road, it gets straghter, passing through a crossroads where a right turn drops down over Park Bridge to reach Drumoak on the north bank. A long partially wooded run through fields then leads to Kirkton of Durris, but there are few other roadside properties along this western end of the route. At length, it reaches the A957 at the south end of Durris Bridge. The B9077 classification ends here but an unclassified road continues upstream towards Banchory.

History

In 1922, the section along the south bank of the Dee from Crathes to Bridge of Dee was numbered as the A943; King George VI Bridge did not exist (it was built in the late 1930s and originally carried the A92), and the remainder of the route was either unbuilt or unclassified suburban road. The A943 actually continued west, past the old A957 terminus and over the Bridge of Dee into Banchory, where it ended on the A93. However, with the reconstruction of Durris Bridge in 1976, the A957 was re-routed and the A943 downgraded. The B9077 number was assigned to the eastern part of the old A943 to the Bridge of Dee Roundabout where it ended on the A92. When that route was moved out of the city centre, the B9077 was extended along the Great Southern Road into the city.