B7001

The B7001 is a short urban road in north Lanarkshire.

Birkenshaw

The route starts on the A74 at the Birkenshaw Roundabout to the north west of Uddingston. All of the roads in this area were realigned to accommodate the construction of the M73 / M74 interchange immediately to the west, so the B7001 now has a steep, snaking climb up the hill to find its original alignment into Birkenshaw. It straighten out at the top of the hill and heads south east along the largely suburban and dead straight Old Edinburgh Road. At first the houses to the left sit back behind a service road, while those on the right back onto the main road. Further on, a service road appears on the right as well, but before long there are houses fronting directly onto the B7001. Beforet long before a roundabout is reached, where the A752 comes in from the right and takes over the road ahead in a short multiplex, as far as the next roundabout.

As the B7001 resumes, it passes between a small suburban shopping precinct and a warehouse as it runs through the centre of Tannochside. The houses soon come back and once again there are very few properties facing onto the road, with most of the houses backing onto the main road at first. There is then a short service road on the left, and another set further back behind an area of parkland on the right, beyond which houses, and a handful of shops, line the road side on both sides. Another roundabout is navigated outside a primary school, and soon after both the long straight and the houses come to an end. The kink is slight, but noticeable as the route passes into the vast industrial areas that lie to the north west of Bellshill. There are a number of side turnings, but only one leads into the Righead Industrial Estate, the remainder access individual sites. The B7001 soon reaches the large Grade separated Belziehill Junction, where it ends on the A721, with the dualled A725 passing below the roundabout.

History

The original western end of the B7001

The route was originally unclassified but had gained its number by 1928 when it is shown on the revised MOT map. Road improvements in the area since then have shortened the route at both ends, however. Originally the B7001 started on the A721 (renumbered A74 in 1935) just west of the Calder Bridge over the North Calder Water and headed east along what is now Roundknowe Road. The route was severed by the construction of the M73, but reappears as Maryville View on the far side shortly before meeting Old Edinburgh Road. At the further end of the route, prior to the opening of the Bellshill Bypass, the B7001 and A721 converged to the east of the Belziehill Junction. Indeed, the latter route now uses as short section of the old B7001, with the old fork junction lying under the paving between Gartcosh Walk and Locket Yett View / Main Street.

Old Edinburgh Road is a name that suggests this route was once far more important, but it had already been usurped by the New Edinburgh Road when the routes were first classified in 1922, indeed, Old Edinburgh Road was not initially classified, whilst the New Edinburgh Road to the south was given Class I status as the A721.