A740 (Paisley - Old Kilpatrick)

This article is about the original route between Paisley and Old Kilpatrick.
For a route between Glasgow Airport and Johnstone used post-1969, see A740 (Glasgow Airport - Johnstone).

The old Erskine Ferry terminal in Old Kilpatrick

The original routing of the A740 started in Paisley and headed north, using the Erskine Ferry , which was replaced by the A898 Erskine Bridge in 1971, to cross the Clyde. However, the entire route had been renumbered as an extension of the A726 in 1934 making the A740 number redundant.

The A740 originally started in Paisley town centre, heading north west out of town on Greenock Road - a route now taken by the A726. However, with the construction of the M8 and Glasgow Airport, the A726 now takes a detour around the south west end of the runway and so passes through Junction 29 of the motorway; the ex-A740 is now lost under the airport runway. Beyond the airport, it rejoins the old route and crosses the Black Cart Water at Barnsford Bridge. The A726 still follows the A740's old route past the B790 junction and across the A8 Greenock Road to meet the unclassified Old Greenock Road. Here the A740 dog-legged to the west onto Barrhill Road, along which a number of housing schemes (East Craigend, North Barr amongst others) have since been built. Barrhill Road, and so the old A740, turns left before the modern roundabout on the A726. This may now be a dead-end, but across the A726, the old route can once more be picked up as it runs down to the old ferry slip for the Erskine Ferry.

The A740 crossed the Clyde by the ferry, for the very short stub of Erskine Ferry Road to lead it up to its terminus on the A82 (current A814).

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Paisley - Old Kilpatrick
An official document from 16/05/1934 details the following changes: The whole of this route to be renumbered as A726