B9082
| B9082 | ||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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| From: | Gutcher (HU544988) | |||||||||
| To: | Cullivoe (HP542025) | |||||||||
| Distance: | 2.4 miles (3.9 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A968, B9083 | |||||||||
| Old route now: | A968, abandoned | |||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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The B9082 is a short B-road up the east coast of Yell in Shetland.
Route
The route starts on the A968 in Gutcher, a short distance west of the ferry pier for Unst, and heads north, always within sight of the coast as it skirts the Loch of Gutcher. It then climbs over the low Head of of Gutcher before dropping back towards the coast, and passing between it and the small Loch of Garth. After another slight climb, it wanders across the moorland and reaches Stonganess, the southern part of the scattered settlement of Cullivoe. The final stretch curves around the head of Culli Voe, crossing the small burn that flows into it. The road then bears left and morphs into the B9083 at a triangle junction, for a reason which is not apparent today but is explained below. The actual point where the two routes meet is the crossroads a little up from the shore.
History
For its short length, the B9082 has a surprisingly complicated history. The original route of the B9082 started on the then-B9080 at the bridge over the Burn of Dalsetter at the head of Basta Voe. It then headed east through Sellafirth and curved around heading roughly eastwards on what is now the A968 to Gutcher before heading north to Cullivoe on its current route, where it met the B9080 and B9083 at a triple point near the old ferry pier for Unst.
However, the current A968 was created after World War II, between 1946 and 1951, to connect the northern isles of Unst and Yell to Mainland. Initially this took over the whole route of the B9080 but it quickly swapped routes with the B9082 at some point before 1955, so as to reach the new ferry port at Gutcher. This meant that the B9082 lost the section west of Gutcher but it was compensated by being extended west of Cullivoe to cross the moors back to its original western end at Sellafirth on what was now the A968, therefore forming an inverted U shape. This section has, however, been abandoned since 1972, leaving the B9082 and B9083 as two numbers for the same road along Yell's north east coast. The point where the roads run into each other is still the same spot as in 1922, although then the B9080 also arrived there, thus making the change more logical.