A96 road

The A96 is a major road in the North of Scotland.

It runs gernerally west/north-west from Aberdeen, bypassing Kintore, Inverurie, Huntly and Forres, and running through Keith, Fochabers, Elgin and Nairn. The road terminates at the A9 outside of Inverness.

The road begins with a junction with the A956 near King Street in Aberdeen City Centre, as a dual carriageway and goes on to form part of the huge 'Mounthooly Roundabout'. It then exits Aberdeen to the North West, meeting the A90 at the Haudagain Roundabout, a notoriously busy junction. It then passes Bucksburn, and has a junction with Aberdeen Airport. The road is then dual carriageway until Inverurie, where it becomes single carriageway until just before it meets the A9 in Inverness.

The A96 has a poor safety record in the substantial single carriageway section. Debate about a new section of road to bypass Fochabers has been ongoing for a number of years. When the new bridge was built over the River Spey (in about 1970), it was built to be in line with a possible northern route. It has been agreed to build one, but debate continues over the route.

The A96 was formerly part of the Euroroute system, of route E120 which ran in a circular route between Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth.