A724

Route

At one time a major radial road out of Glasgow, the A724 is now bypassed by the M74 and is non-primary for its entire length.

Rutherglen – Hamilton

The route commences at Farme Cross in the Rutherglen district as Cambuslang Road at a traffic-light-controlled junction with the A749. It heads south-east past the Clyde Industrial Estate and crosses the M74 at J2 and then the West Coast Main Line (WCML), entering the Richmond Park district of Rutherglen. It meets the B768 at a traffic-light-controlled triangular partial roundabout junction. Continuing east from here it becomes a dual carriageway for a short stretch through the Eastfield district, meeting Boggleshole Road at another traffic-light-controlled junction. Boggleshole Road, , despite being unclassified, is a main connection to and from the M74.

Continuing south-east, firstly as a single carriageway, the road meets the B762 at a traffic-light-controlled junction and becomes a dual carriageway once again as it enters the Cambuslang district as Glasgow Road. It crosses the WCML and meets the A763 at a traffic-light-controlled junction close to Cambuslang station. Continuing south east as Main Street through a traffic-light-controlled junction with the B759, it then becomes Hamilton Road, dropping back to a single carriageway for a short distance before becoming dual-carriageway once more as it passes the Cairns and Halfway districts of Cambuslang.

The road continues south-east as a single carriageway past the Hallside district, an area of new housing created on what was once industrial land, and passes close to the site of the 14th-century Drumsargard Castle. It then crosses open countryside and former mine workings before passing over the river Rotten Calder and enters the Blantyre district.

Blantyre

Becoming Glasgow Road now, it multiplexes briefly with the B758 in the Coatshill district of Blantyre and continues south-east, passing through two roundabouts before meeting the eastbound onslip for the A725 and then crossing under that road. Another roundabout beyond this point provides access to industrial areas and to the westbound A725 as well as serving an exit from the westbound A725. It continues south-east through the Springwells district of Burnbank, meets the B7012, and then by-passes Burnbank town centre as a dual carriageway, being named Burnbank Road.

At a roundabout junction the short section of dual carriageway ends and the road continues south-east towards Hamilton. At Peacock Cross the eastbound section veers off around a one-way system, turning left as Clydesdale Street, passing Hamilton West Station, turning right into Douglas Street, and then right again as Almada Street where it meets the A72, and finally turning left and continuing south east as Union Street. Westbound traffic at this junction has a much simpler route, passing directly via a roundabout junction from Union Street into Burnbank Road.

On its final section the A724 becomes Brandon Street, passing Hamilton Central Station and Hamilton Bus Station. Traffic is then dropped onto the Hamilton town centre one-way system, eastbound traffic turning left into one leg of the A72 (Leechlee Road) and westbound traffic joining from the A723 (Duke Street and Quarry Street).

History

The original A724 in 1923

The route detailed above was numbered A74 in the 1922 Road Lists. The A724 started on the A721 to the north of Uddingston and then headed south to end in Hamilton on the A74. In 1935, the two numbers were swapped over and the A724 was rerouted west from Hamilton, to end on the A749 in Rutherglen as it does now. After the M74 was built, the former A74 through Hamilton was downgraded and the original route of the A721 is now numbered B7071.