A82 road

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The A82 is the major road to the western Scottish Highlands, running from Glasgow to Inverness.

[edit] Route

The A82 begins in the Charing 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, 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.

Some statistics seem to indicate that the A82 between Tarbet and Tyndrum is the third most dangerous road in Scotland.[1] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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]}