Anniesland Cross

A complex at-grade signal-controlled junction at the intersection of two of the most important dual carriageways in West Glasgow - the A82 Great Western Road and the A739 which passes through the Clyde Tunnel to Paisley. The fifth road at the junction, Anniesland Road, was until the 1990s part of the A806.

A Simple Crossroads

Anniesland Cross from the NW corner

There is little doubt that when the Great Western Road extension was built in the late 1920s, this junction was just a simple crossroads, probably controlled by a policeman in the early years. The existence of Anniesland Road, which approaches the junction from the west was probably of little relevance in those lightly-trafficked days. If only the same could be said today! To try and work out how this mess works, lets take a look at each road in turn.

Great Western Road

The A82 Great Western Road passes through from south east to north west, on its way from the City Centre to Dumbarton and beyond. Heading citybound, the two lanes split to provide two pairs of lanes at the lights (at the expense of the bus lane), The lefthand lanes providing access to the northbound A739 and the citybound A82. The right lanes turn into the tunnelbound A739, with traffic then able to turn right again into Anniesland Road. All movements, except northbound A739 pass through 2 sets of lights.

Outbound traffic on the A82 has a freeflow slip to the tunnelbound A739, with the rest of the traffic gaining five lanes at the first set of lights. The righthand pair turn northbound on the A739, while the other three continue through the second lights for outbound A82 and Anniesland Road.

A739

Southbound A739 traffic appears to have the easiest life - one set of lights allows them to turn left onto the citybound A82, or stay on the tunnelbound A739. However, after crossing the A82, it is still possible to head west on that road - all you need to do is turn right at the lights into Anniesland Road, then right again at the next lights, followed by left at the fourth set! This is clearly a movement that most traffic will avoid!

Confusion reigns northbound on the A739

Heading North on the A739, traffic wishing to stick on that route has to pass through a mere 2 sets of lights. Traffic headed for the A82, can either take the route described above, via Anniesland Road, or use the left turn lane at the main crossroads. Both options involve 3 sets of lights. Citybound traffic HAS to turn left (i.e. outbound) first into Anniesland Road, then return to the right, so also passing through 4 sets of lights!

Anniesland Road

Traffic from Anniesland Road has a set of lights simply to get to the junction, so it is already one step behind. Turning westbound onto the A82 or northbound onto the A739 involves one more set, whilst citybound or tunnelbound involves three sets of lights.

Pedestrians

As well as all of these complex manoeuvres for traffic, pedestrians also have to be fitted into the equation, whilst not using bridges or subways. The total number of signal posts (including pedestrian signals) therefore seems to be somewhere around 70 (a quick tally from Google Earth!). However, surprisingly perhaps, traffic seems to flow fairly smoothly through this junction, it certainly isn't the worst in Glasgow!

History

Whilst today it is the A82 and A739 that pass through the junction, when the routes were first classified the roads were numbered completely differently. The Great Western Road into Glasgow was the B810, Crow Road towards the (future) tunnel was the B813, the Crow Road north and indeed Anniesland Road were the A806, and finally what is now the A82 west towards Dumbarton was then just fields, as the road was not constructed until later in the 1920s, and was initially opened as the A876.

It was 1935 when the A82 was finally routed through Anniesland, and 1963 before the A739 crossed the river through the Clyde Tunnel to reach the junction.

1970s proposal for a roundabout interchange

In the early 1970s there were plans to upgrade the junction to a roundabout interchange with the A739 passing beneath it as the Crow Road-Bearsden Expressway. The section within the roundabout would be tunnelled with a series of pedestrian routes above it.