A725
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A725 | |||||||
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| From: | East Kilbride (NS641537) | ||||||
| To: | Coatbridge (NS736648) | ||||||
| Length: | 11 miles (17.7 km) | ||||||
| Meets: | A726, B761, A749, B783, B7012, B758, B7012, A724, B7071, M74, B7070, A721, B7001, B7070, A8, B753, A89, B804 | ||||||
| Former Number(s): | A749, A776, A726, B7012 | ||||||
| Old route now: | B7012, B7070 | ||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||
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Route
The A725 is primary between East Kilbride and the A8 at Shawhead, and forms a main connection between North and South Lanarkshire.
East Kilbride - Coatbridge
This road commences at its southern end as an D2 road at Birniehill roundabout (its junction with the A726) in East Kilbride. It heads north from here as Kingsway, passing through the Whitemoss roundabout where it meets the B761 and continues north to The Whirlies roundabout, where it meets the B783 and one leg of the A749. From here it heads first north-east and then east as Hamilton Road (this was previously numbered A776 and was the A726 before 1935), the eastbound section passing underneath the other leg of the A749 (a newer build, designed to by-pass The Whirlies roundabout).
Leaving East Kilbride, it continues east, diverting around the former course of the A776 (now B7012) to by-pass High Blantyre, becoming an elevated road, partly following the course of an old railway line. It crosses over the B758, then the B7012, then the A724, as it winds around the southern edges of Blantyre and the northern outskirts of Hamilton, before dropping to pass under the B7071 (former A74) at Bothwell Bridge (site of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge after the restoration of Charles II in 1679) and then immediately crossing the River Clyde to its first at-grade junction since leaving East Kilbride.
Before the A725 was extended to by-pass Hamilton and Blantyre, and to take over the A776 to East Kilbride, the A725 ended at Bothwell Bridge; the short section from the roundabout here to Bothwell Bridge now being numbered B7071. Now, the A725 continues north-east to another roundabout, this time at junction 5 of the M74, both this roundabout and the previous one forming the Raith Interchange (a largely signal-controlled junction, congested at peak hours, although the signalisation and segregation of one lane for westbound traffic staying on the A725 itself through the western roundabout have helped matters).
From the Raith Interchange the A725 heads north-east as Bellshill Road, passing Strathclyde Park, then the West Coast main railway line, then the B7070 at a GSJ. It turns north to by-pass Bellshill and passes underneath a roundabout allowing connections to the A721 and B7001, and under another GSJ at the northern end of Strathclyde Industrial Estate, and another at the northern end of the B7070 (there is no access to that road in this direction). Here it becomes North Road as it meets and crosses over the A8 at Shawhead Interchange, and then Whifflet Street as it enters Coatbridge.
In Coatbridge, it passes through the Shawhead district, then through Whifflet, multiplexing briefly with the B753, and then through Coatbank, to end at a roundabout junction with the A89, close to Coatbridge Town Centre.
History
In 1922, the A725 ran from the A724 (now B7071) in Bothwell to the A8 (now A89) in Coatbridge. It was extended west in the late 1970s along the B7012, A776 and A749 to its current terminus in East Kilbride.
