A82 road
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| A82 road | |
| Direction | South-Northeast |
| Start | Glasgow |
| Primary destinations1 |
Erskine Bridge Crianlarich Fort William |
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| End | Inverness |
| Roads joined |  A83 road A85 road A86 road A87 road |
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The A82 is a trunk road in Scotland, and is the principal route from Lowland Scotland to the western Scottish Highlands, running from Glasgow to Inverness. It is also the second longest primary A-road in Scotland after the A9.
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[edit] Route
The A82 begins in the St. Georges Cross area of Central Glasgow, before threading through the city's West End. Glasgow's "Boulevard" (officially known as Great Western Road), is in fact the urban section of the A82. As the road cuts through the north west of the city, it passes through Kelvinside, Anniesland, Blairdardie, Clydebank and Dumbarton before turning north to head up the western shore of Loch Lomond. At Tarbet in Dunbartonshire it splits, leaving the A83 to continue to the west. The A83 passes through the similarly named Tarbert in Argyll before eventually arriving at Campbeltown, its ultimate destination.
From Tarbet, the A82 then leads through Crianlarich and Tyndrum, where it splits again. The A85 continues west to Oban.
The A82 continues north and passes the western fringes of Rannoch Moor and through the spectacular Glen Coe. The road then crosses Loch Leven and runs along the side Loch Linnhe to Fort William. From Fort William it follows the line of the Great Glen (through which the Caledonian Canal also runs) northeast through Fort Augustus and up the western shore of Loch Ness before ending at a junction with the A9 in Inverness.
The A82 over Rannoch Moor was built in the 1930s using unemployed labour, in an attempt to provide work.
Some statistics seem to indicate that the A82 between Tarbet and Tyndrum is the third most dangerous road in Scotland.[1][2] While the high level of accidents on some roads is open to debate, the cause on this stretch of the A82 is fairly evident. The road follows the edge of Loch Lomond and is frequently narrow with many hairpin bends. Drivers unfamiliar with the road often do not realise that they cannot share these bends with any vehicle larger than their own. Because this is a major tourist route, there is no shortage of drivers unfamiliar with the road, and large vehicles such as coaches to share it with. Unfortunately, the road is squeezed between railway and loch, with hill sides rising steeply. Any improvement of the road will therefore be costly, and may lead to objections on environmental grounds.[citation needed]
[edit] Campaign Launched to Win Upgrade of Scotland’s Most Dangerous Road
A major campaign was launched on 10th March 2008[3] to win improvements on one of the most scenic but dangerous stretches of trunk road in the United Kingdom. The A82 Tarbet – Fort William - Inverness road is famous for passing the landmark destinations of Loch Lomond, Loch Rannoch, Glencoe, Ben Nevis and Loch Ness.
[edit] Facts and Figures [4]
The A82 is the main route from Glasgow to Inverness which runs along the west side of Loch Lomond to Tarbet, north from Tarbet (through Glencoe) to Fort William and on to Inverness. The total length of the route from Balloch (at the southern end of Loch Lomond) to Inverness is 147 miles. The A82 is the main commercial corridor for goods and services to be transported into and out of the West Highlands, Skye and the Western Isles.
There are 3 times the number of Personal Injury Accidents per mile on the section of the road between Tarbet and Ardlui than on the average single carriage way road in Scotland.
Only 19 miles, out of the total of 147 miles, meets the required design standard of 7.3 metres width. (75% of these 19 miles being between Balloch and Tarbet).
There are more Personal Injury Accidents in May than in any other month.
[edit] Destinations along A82
[edit] External links
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