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A730

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A730
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (3)
From:  Gorbals Cross, Glasgow (NS590643)
To:  Burnside (NS626599)
Distance:  4.2 miles (6.8 km)
Meets:  A8, A728 (South Glasgow), A728 (East Glasgow), A749
Former Number(s):  A727, A729
Old route now:  B768, B762
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

Glasgow • South Lanarkshire

Traditional Counties

Lanarkshire

Route outline (key)
A730 Glasgow - Burnside


The A730 is an urban road through the suburbs of Glasgow.

Route

Cathcart Road near the northern end of the A730

At its northern end the route commences at Gorbals Cross, the junction of the A8 Norfolk Street and Ballater Street, just south of the River Clyde. It heads south along Gorbals Street, passing some substantial new developments, and is one way north bound, with a contraflow bus lane. Cleland Street is met at the next set of lights, beyond which the route is now one-way southbound with a contraflow bus lane following the installation of a bus gate at the next junction in 2020. This is the junction with Cumberland Street, the eastern part of which appears to be a very short spur of either the A730 or A728, which lie either side of an old disused railway viaduct at this point. The next section of the route is again one-way northbound as it forks left onto Cathcart Road. After passing under the disused railway, the A730 merges with the A728 for a very short multiplex, and the A728 is actually a much better route for through traffic as it is fully two-way without bus gates or no entry signs!

The two routes continue south as Cathcart Road (formerly Cathcart Street) to the next set of lights, where the A728 continues ahead to the south on Cathcart Road, while the A730 turns left and heads east as Caledonia Road. At this point the road is wide and on a new alignment created as part of the regeneration of the Gorbals and Hutchesontown districts (these districts were massively redeveloped during the 1960s, being almost completely demolished and replaced with sub-standard housing, much of which has also now met a similar fate). Caledonia Road curves to the south east to pass the Southern Necropolis (a large cemetery opened in 1840), losing the central reservation in the process, but remaining S4. Two tall tower blocks stand opposite the cemetery, surrounded by predominantly low rise flats. At the next roundabout, the rtoute turns right onto a tree lined dual carriageway, called The Boulevard, but somehow missing the Parisian surroundings!

Approaching a roundabout on New Rutherglen Road

This bypass for the Oatlands district then returns to S4 as it turns left at the next roundabout onto New Rutherglen Road. The next signalised junction is with the B763 or A728 (the classification of the road is uncertain), Polmadie Road, with the Polmadie Road Junction of the M74 lying a very short distance to the south. The next section of the A730 is part of the Clyde Gateway project built in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and is a multiplex with one or both of the A728 and B763. They fork left at a signalised junction in front of the Shawfield greyhound stadium, while the A730 forks right onto Rutherglen Road. It continues south east through industrial areas, now lined as a very wide S2, although traffic does treat it as a four lane road at times. A sudden widening allows the central reservation to resume, and then the royte passes under the M74 and over the West Coast Main Linerailway as it approaches the centre of Rutherglen.

The route is now clearly slicing through the old street pattern, with a rectilinear grid to the east and a more fluid layout to the west winding around low rise flats. The route crosses the B768 at a traffic-light-controlled junction at the western end of Rutherglen Main Street before continuing south as Mill Street, the original line of which survives alongside. It remains dual carriageway as it passes some older housing and Overtoun Park, meeting the B762 which approaches from the west, at more traffic lights. The two routes then multiplex south for a short distance, passing the cemetry and going under the railway, where the A730 becomes a single carriageway once more. The B762 then turns left onto Blairbeth Road at another signalised crossroads just after the bridge, while the A730 continues ahead onto the Cathkin Bypass route, which was completed in c2017, and is entirely single carriageway.

At first, the A730 follows Fernhill Road, but this then turns off to the right at a new junction, while the A730 continues ahead on Willow Boulevard, the new build Cathkin Relief Road. Both of these sections run through a mixture of parkland and woodland as they sweep round to the left, past the right turn which leads to the rest of Fernhill Road. The A730 travels along what feels like a cutting, which was built through former parkland and wasteland to connect up with the much older Cathkin Bypass at a signalised crossroads. The older Bypass dates back to the early 1950s, and is marked on the 1954 edition of the OS 1:1250 sheet as the 'Cathkin By-Pass'. The bypass is three lanes wide, but the central lane is hatched out to accommodate turning lanes, while the properties are set back behind service roads. It leads through to the Cathkin Roundabout on the A749, which marks the end of the A730.

History

The route has seen many changes over the years, with about half of it re-routed since 1922. Originally the A730 started on the then-A77 Gorbals Street, more-or-less exactly where the Citizens Theatre is now, before heading east along Rutherglen Road. The old junction is gone, but the railway bridge survives, providing access to the car park for the offices of St Lukes Business Park. Development in this area means the original route cannot be followed by traffic. Old Rutherglen Road deviates from the original line of Rutherglen Road at the western end, but the A730 used to pass between the old brick buildings and the park. It then followed Old Rutherglen Road to the further end, crossing the grass at Snowden Place and taking a more or less direct line to the roundabout at Oatlands Gate. From here it followed a straight line through the modern development to the junction outside Shawfield Greyhound Stadium.

In Rutherglen, the route originally turned left along Main Street, which is now the B768 to end on the A74 (now A724), Cambuslang Road in the Eastfield area. The northern section of the route was diverted from Rutherglen Road onto Caledonia Road in c1967 - it is shown on the original line on the OS 1:10,000 sheet of that year, but the new line on the One Inch sheet of 1968. This crossed the A728 on Crown Street, in the centre of the new Gorbals Park, to meet the A729, Cathcart Road. It is not clear whether this was the end, or if the A730 was then turned north along Gorbals Street at this time, as there were other changes to route numbering in the vicinity at a similar time. The subsequent diversion of Caledonia Road to its current western terminus, introducing the multiplex with the A728 is much more recent.

To the south, the A730 has been re-routed and extended twice. It still followed Rutherglen Main Street in 1976, but was diverted onto the new Mill Street Dual Carriageway when it was completed - it is shown on the 1976 Landranger map, but only dualled as far as Johnstone Drive (Stage 1 of the Mill Street Diversion, 0.53 mile, had been completed in 1974). After passing under the railway, it formerly turned left and followed Blairbeth Road, which is now the B762. At a junction with Burnside Road the B762 turned north, after what was a longer multiplex than now exists, meeting the A749 at a junction less than 150 yards on, while the A730 continued east, more or less parallel with the A749 and itself ending at a junction with it, near the start of the A749's dual carriageway section on East Kilbride Road. The route was diverted again onto its current line when the Cathkin Relief Road opened in c2017, completing the Cathkin Bypass Route which had been started over 60 years earlier!

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Glasgow - Rutherglen - Junction with A74





A730
Junctions
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (3)
Cathcart Road at derelict church (C) Colin Pyle - Geograph - 3527911.jpgApproaching a roundabout on New Rutherglen Road - Geograph - 1167945.jpgShawfield-junc.jpg
Other nearby roads
Glasgow
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Rutherglen
A700-A799
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A720 • A721 • A722 • A723 • A724 • A725 • A726 • A727 • A728 • A729 • A730 • A731 • A732 • A733 • A734 • A735 • A736 • A737 • A738 • A739
A740 • A741 • A742 • A743 • A744 • A745 • A746 • A747 • A748 • A749 • A750 • A751 • A752 • A753 • A754 • A755 • A756 • A757 • A758 • A759
A760 • A761 • A762 • A763 • A764 • A765 • A766 • A767 • A768 • A769 • A770 • A771 • A772 • A773 • A774 • A775 • A776 • A777 • A778 • A779
A780 • A781 • A782 • A783 • A784 • A785 • A786 • A787 • A788 • A789 • A790 • A791 • A792 • A793 • A794 • A795 • A796 • A797 • A798 • A799
Defunct Itineraries: A720 • A727 • A739 • A740 • A752 • A754


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