The M9 is a major

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in Scotland. It runs from the outskirts of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, bypassing the towns of

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Grangemouth Grangemouth (; , ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area in the central belt of Scotland. Historically part of the Counties of Scotland, county of Stirlingshire, the town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firt ...

and

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

to end at

Dunblane Dunblane (, ) is a town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links to much of the Central Be ...

History

The first section was Polmont and Falkirk Bypass which opened on 28 August 1968 This was followed by the Newbridge Bypass which opened on 25 November 1970, the third section Lathalllan to Muriehall (

), which joined the two together opened on 18 December 1972. In April 2022, work began on a new junction at

Winchburgh Winchburgh is a village in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of West Lothian, Scotland. It is located approximately west of the city centre of Edinburgh, east of Linlithgow and northeast of Broxburn, West Lothian, Broxburn. Demograp ...

. Winchburgh Developments contributed £40 million towards the construction cost.

Route

The road is approximately long, and runs in a roughly north-west direction from the M8. It meets the A8 at Newbridge – a traffic blackspot before the junction was

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

. Its next junction is with the M90, the first part of which used to be a

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

of the M9 towards the

Forth Road Bridge The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in Central Belt, east central Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964 and at the time was the List of longest suspension bridge spans, longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States. ...

. This spur ended at the single carriageway A8000 road short of the bridge, but was extended in September 2007 to meet the A90 at Scotstoun. The road shares space with of the M876 en route to the Kincardine Bridge east of Stenhousemuir, at this point the motorway has 3 lanes in each direction, making it the most northerly stretch of motorway in the UK to be 3 lanes wide. At Stirling it meets the M80 (junction 9 of both motorways), taking over the main route through the Carse of Lecropt to the final roundabout at Dunblane. From there, the A9 runs all the way to

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; , ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great Britain. From a latitudinal s ...

. Moto services are located at the M9/M80 junction, accessed via a roundabout which allows access to all routes.

Junctions

References

External links

Scottish Roads Archive - the M9 Motorway

City of Edinburgh Council Leaflet (PDF)

{{DEFAULTSORT:9-0009m Motorways in Scotland Transport in Edinburgh Transport in Stirling (council area) Transport in West Lothian

History

Route

Junctions

See also

References

External links