As originally classified in 1922, the A72 was designed to be an important cross-country route across Southern Scotland, connecting together a number of bustling market and county towns in the Clyde, Tweed and Gala valleys. At the western end, it didn't quite reach Glasgow, that honour falling to the A74 instead, but at the eastern end it did end on the A7 in the centre of Galashiels, then as now the largest town in the Borders. It didn't take long, however, for the A72's importance to be diminished, the A73 taking over the nine miles from Lanark to Symington in the mid 1930s. Since then, the A72 has almost been a forgotten route, neglected to the extreme at times, however there are still numerous clues to the history of this once important route to be found.
A72 historic route from 1922/3 numbering
Hamilton - Lanark
The construction of the M74 motorway in the 1960s led to the steady removal of the parallel A74. Mapping evidence suggests it was never immediate, but following the opening of the motorway between Hamilton and Motherwell in 1969, the 1971 OS One Inch map shows that the A72 was extended into Hamilton, even though the old A74 through Bothwell and Larkhall apparently retained its number. This then was perhaps a useless multiplex, or more likely a mapping error of some form. The 1972 edition of the OS 1:10,000 sheet confuses matters even more, showing the A72 extending up Townhead Street to end on Quarry Street, the old A723. Cadzow Street and Castle Street / Muir Street are still labelled as part of the A74, while Almada Street is a detached spur of the A776. The 1976 Landranger shows the road through Larkhall as a B road, but the A74 survives between Hamilton and Bothwell. The 1980 sheet labels Muir Street as the A72, but it doesn't appear to be until the East Kilbride Expressway (the A725) was completed a few years later that the A74 finally disappeared.
The original starting point of the A72 was at the junction at Merryton just north of Larkhall, where the route now has to TOTSO. The construction of the motorway saw the A72 substantially improved and widened through the junction, but only slightly realigned to the west, where the old road can still be seen alongside on the northern side. The next notable improvement is at Garrion Bridge, where the new road climbing up to the Cornsilloch Roundabout was built in 2001 as part of the same project that saw a second bridge added at the junction to form a roundabout. This work was completed in 2002. The old line of the A72 is still mostly open to traffic, curiously formed into two dead-end sections serving the properties along the riverbank.
There are few suggestions of improvements beyond Garrion Bridge as the road follows the Clyde to Lanark. A couple of strangely shaped laybys on bends, and some meandering boundary fences hint at minor changes, and a couple of the junctions show evidence of having been opened out to improve visibility. One of the garden centres has also had a turning lane added into a widened stretch of the route. The 'new' Kirkfieldbank Bridge dates back to 1959, and bypassed some tight bends on the north bank as the road came off the older Clydesholm Bridge.
Symington - Galashiels
The only obvious change to the short section of the A72 between Symington and Biggar is that the Wolfclyde Bridge was widened, probably in the 1950s. Even beyond Biggar, there are few clues as to notable changes. When the A72 resumes, there are are a couple of shallow cuttings near Skirling which presumably relate to the road being widened. Then, at Bryland Bridge, just south of the A721 junction at Kirkdean, there is suddenly a substantial section of new road, with the old line at first looping to the right past a couple of houses, before a longer loop to the left. The current line dates back to the 1950s, however.
After crossing the hills and finding the Lyne Water, there are some long sections of online widening, probably dating from the 1960s, which continue beyond Peebles. A single loop of old road can be found at the long bend just beyond Eshiels / Glentress, although it is gated. Apart from online widening, there is no further evidence of any change before The Nest Roundabout. This replaced a very sharp west-facing fork junction, with the A707 and A72 diverging at notably different gradients. The climbing lane up Cliff Road was presumably added at the same time. On the final approaches into Galashiels, the A72 appears to have been moved onto the old railway formation, the old road now a cycle route through the trees. The A72 then originally ended at the top of the High Street, with Bridge Place being the A7. This slight extension was added when the A7 was diverted onto its current line and so out of the town centre.
