A705
| A705 | ||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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| From: | Livingston (NT059678) | |||||||||
| To: | Whitburn (NS948651) | |||||||||
| Distance: | 7.4 miles (11.9 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A899, A779, A801, A706 | |||||||||
| Old route now: | B7015, B7069, B7066, M8, A775 | |||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route
The A705 is a short A-road running parallel to the M8 in West Lothian.
Livingston - Whitburn
The road begins at its junction with the A899 Livingston Spine Road. This is now Scotland's only full cloverleaf junction.
It proceeds westwards through Livingston. The alignment the road sits in here was clearly designed for a dual carriageway, with the right-hand (northern) verge much wider than the left. Numerous overbridges have supports beside the road where the central reservation would be with huge gaps over the very wide verge. All the junctions are fully grade separated. Just before this section ends at a roundabout where it meets the B7015, it goes over a footpath. The bridge here is only wide enough for the road, so if the road was planned to be dualled there must have been a plan to add another bridge deck to carry the missing carriageway.
At the roundabout the A705 crosses its original route taking a short detour along what was part of the B7015 before it turns right at traffic lights onto a section of road opened in 2002. After heading northwards for a few hundred yards it turns left a a roundabout resuming its original path.
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The A705 now heads off towards the village of Seafield. The road here is in very poor condition but in most parts would have been wide enough for a 3-lane road.
The road now passes through the villages of Seafield and Blackburn, with the speed limit changing frequently between 30 and 40mph. After Blackburn another short (about 300yds) 40mph section leads to a very wide central reservation with newly installed traffic lights, where the road meets the start of the out-of-zone A801, which leads to [Whitburn Interchange|J4]] of the M8. The road then leads into East Whitburn and Whitburn, terminating at a traffic-light-controlled crossroads in the town centre.
History
The A705 originally started on the original A71 in Mid Calder and headed west along some of what is now the B7015, although the old route in Livingston Village is now unclassified. The A71 is now B7015 east of Mid Calder and unclassified to the west. The A705 remained on this alignment until the building of the new town of Livingston gave it its current route.
In the west, this road used to continue to Bellshill. The 5 mile Boghall to Whitburn section of the Edinburgh to Glasgow new road was completed in 1932 but, from the MOT maps, it was not until 1935-36 that the Whitburn – Newhouse section of the A705 became A8 (now B7066). At the same time the section west of Newhouse became A775.
Original Author(s): Michael
