A once notorious stretch of winding Highland Perthshire road, which was famously tackled by the Queen and Prince Philip, could soon be revived as a tourist attraction.
Plans have been drawn up to lure visitors to the infamous Devil’s Elbow, a series of sharp hair-pin bends near Glenshee.
The A93 route was straightened out in the 1960s, much to the relief of drivers who dreaded navigating its one-in-six gradient ascent, although the original tracks still remain.
Now the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CPNA) wants to restore the iconic viewpoint with a new rest stop, walking routes and information panels.
The proposal is part of the authority’s Scottish Scenic Routes initiative, a tourist trail from Blairgowrie to Grantown-on-Spey. As well as a visitor spot at the Devil’s Elbow, similar attractions will be created at Tomintoul and Corgarff in Aberdeenshire.
The route forms the highest public road in Britain and is regularly used by classic car and motorbike enthusiasts and increasingly cyclists. It offers a quiet alternative to the A9, crossing the eastern Cairngorms through remote, wild and breath-taking landscapes.
Designers Daniel Smith and Philip Zoechbauer won an architectural competition to create the Glenshee viewpoint. According to their brief, the site is “easily overlooked” and the dramatic scenery has been “uncelebrated”.
Mr Zoechbauer said: “The proposal draws on the morphology of the old road as it existed prior to it being straightened, which followed the curve of the contours to navigate topography, to create a new meandering path cut into the hillside, connecting a lay-by to an existing path which is currently difficult to access.”
One of the most famous photos of the Devil’s Elbow is from 1967 and shows the Queen being driven to Balmoral by Prince Philip, as crowds wave from the roadside.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “I look forward to visiting the completed projects in the spring, which will be an excellent showcase for Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.”
Brian Wood, deputy convener of CNPA board, said artists had also been selected to design the Tomintoul project and the Corgarff development completed in December.
“Once constructed these will give us an outstanding scenic route along the eastern side of the Cairngorms National Park,” he said. “This will encourage more people to experience and enjoy these breathtaking landscapes of the Cairngorms.”
In total, 72 proposals were received for the three projects.