A725

H is for Hamilton

The A725, linking East Kilbride to Coatbridge, forms a main connection between South and North Lanarkshire. It is primary from East Kilbride to the A8 at Shawhead.

The route commences as a D2 dual carriageway at Birniehill roundabout (its junction with the A726) in East Kilbride. It heads north from here as Kingsway, soon reaching the Whitemoss roundabout, from which the B761 sets off westward, and continuing to The Whirlies Roundabout, where it meets the B783 and one leg of the A749. From here our roads turns first north-eastward and then heads 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, the road continues eastward, diverting around the former course of the A776 (now B7012) to by-pass High Blantyre and become an elevated road which partly follows the course of a former railway line. We cross over the B758, the B7012, and the A724, as the road winds its way round 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. The A725 then immediately crosses the River Clyde to reach its first at-grade junction since leaving East Kilbride.

Before the A725 was extended to by-pass Hamilton and Blantyre and take over the A776 to East Kilbride, the A725 ended at Bothwell Bridge; the short section from the roundabout here to Bothwell Bridge is now numbered B7071. Today, the A725 continues north-east to another roundabout, this time at junction 5 of the M74. This roundabout and the previous one together form part of the Raith Interchange: a largely signal-controlled junction, congested at peak hours, although the traffic lights and the segregation through the western roundaboutof one lane for south-westbound traffic staying on the A725 have helped matters.

From the Raith Interchange the A725 heads north-east as Bellshill Road, passing Strathclyde Park, the West Coast main railway line, and then the B7070 at a grade-separated junction (GSJ). It turns north to by-pass Bellshill and passes underneath a roundabout which provides connections to the A721 and B7001, reacing another GSJ at the northern end of Strathclyde Industrial Estate, and yet another at the northern end of the B7070 (to which there is no access in this direction). Our route becomes North Road as it meets and crosses over the A8 at Shawhead Interchange, and then Whifflet Street as it enters Coatbridge.

In Coatbridge, we pass through the Shawhead district, then Whifflet (multiplexing briefly with the B753), and finally we follow Coatbank Street, where our route ends 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.

External links

legislation.gov.uk

• The A725 and A7071 Trunk Roads (Raith) (Trunking) Order 2017

• The A725 Trunk Road (Raith) (Prohibition of Specified Classes of Traffic and Pedestrians) Order 2019