B775

The B775 is a largely rural B-road running south from Paisley.

Route

Moredun Road/Corsebar Road, Paisley

The route starts at traffic lights on the A726 to the north west of the town centre and continues west along Underwood Road where the A726 turns north from the dualled St James Street onto Caledonia Road. The route immediately narrows to single carriageway and squeezes under a low arched bridge carrying the railway to Greenock. Beyond is a large industrial area, although some flats and tenements stand on the left a little further along. The route then widens out to meet a roundabout with Well Street, beyond which it is dual carriageway as it passes under the Ayrshire Railway line and follows Gallow Green Road south. This tree lined route is a bit of a surprise, especially as it passes under King Street without a junction, and has no frontages. It doesn't last long, however, and soon reaches the traffic lights with Broomlands Street. The western portion of Broomland Street is probably the B7050, although the road is hardly acknowledged from the B775, and it is signed as a spur of the B775 from the A761 to the west. The whole of the route so far appears to have once been the B7050, but it is now signed as the B775.

A second signalised crossroads soon follows, where the B775 crosses the A761 (former B772) at Maxwelton Cross. The short section of Maxwelton Street to the north was dualled, but on the southern side it is only wide enough for two lanes of traffic, despite running through a green strip between Maxwelton Park and an old railway line, now a cycle route. The B775 soon bears left at traffic lights to pass the Royal Alexandra Hospital, although the number isn't signed, meaning it is easy to not realise that the route doesn't continue ahead. Corsebar Road quickly turns back to head south across parkland and past the hospital, beyond which it quickly becomes more typically suburban. a few modern flats are followed by larger, older houses, but as the route starts to climb out of the town, newer housing takes over. At the top of a steeper hill, Corsebar Road sweeps round to the left onto Moredun Road, which soon reaches a T-junction where the B775 TOTSOs right onto Stanley Road.

Although still well within the urban area, for now, there are few properties facing directly onto the road beyond here. A park on the left is quickly passed, but the modern housing estates mostly back onto the main road. The route then passes Stanley Reservoir to the right, although all that can be seen of it is the grassy bank that holds back the water. Gleniffer Road climbs quite steeply past the reservoir, towards a pair of tower blocks beyond. A couple of busy junctions give access to Paisley's informal outer ring road, and soon after the route enters woodland. A long right hander marks the start of the steep climb up the Gleniffer Braes. Towards the top, the trees peel back in favour of scrubby hillside, and cars can be seen up to the left. This car park is found just around the corner and offers truly spectacular views across Paisley and the Clyde to the hills beyond, both in Dunbartonshire to the north, and Argyll to the west. There are numerous walks to explore the hillside and get different views to the east across Glasgow as well.

The route now levels out and crosses the moors on a dead-straight section of road, straighter in fact than the administrative boundary between Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, which is crossed three times on this section. More obvious to traffic are the numerous lines of pylons which converge on a large substation on the right, while at the further end of the straight, the road can be seen climbing through patches of forestry. After a couple of miles the road becomes more sinuous and then bends sharply to the left, before turning back to the right. These bends lift the route up to it's summit of 212m near Muirton farm, from where it continues south in a more winding fashion than before as it crosses moorland fields. The descent soon steepens, and the route winds down the small valley of the Cross Burn. The B776 is crossed at the narrow Hall Crossroads, which offers limited visibility between the cluster of buildings.

The final stretch sees the route level out somewhat and follow a straighter line as it skirts the grounds of Caldwell House to the left. A couple of kinks then drop it down past some woodland, and the route ends shortly afterwards at a T-junction on the B777 to the north of Lugton.

History

Outside of Paisley's town centre, the route of the B775 has hardly changed since first allocated in 1922. However, the route through the town has seen changes over the years. The original start point was on the B772 (now the A761) at Maxwelton Cross. Heading south, the junction with Corsebar Road was further north - the old railway bridge survives but is only open to pedestrians and cyclists today. The current junction was built after the railway line closed, although a tunnel is provided for the cycle route. Old maps suggest that the curve from Corsebar Road onto Moredun Road was also more of a right angle before the housing sprung up around it, indeed this is still reflected in the boundaries and pavements at the junction.

The extension of the B775 around the west and northern sides of Paisley town centre is much more recent. Signage on the A726, St James Street, was updated in 2016/7 to show the B775 number continuing ahead, prior to this the route was not numbered on the signs. Conversely, signage on Caledonia Road showed the route as the B775 in 2008, but a year later it was signed as the B7050. The B7050 number has not appeared on signage at Maxwellton Cross in recent years, if ever. There has equally been no mention of the B7050 number at the intermediate roundabout with Well Street. All of the maps that mark a number for the route use the B775 number, although there is no doubting that Underwood Road was originally the B7050, and that number appears to still apply to the western end of Broomlands Street, suggesting that at some point in the past the whole route north of Maxwelton Cross was probably the B7050.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Junction with B777 near Lugton - Paisley