B7015

The B7015 is a lengthy minor route that links many of the more rural communities to either side of Livingston with the new town, running parallel to, and at times along the former route of the A71.

Route

Wilkiston to Livingston

The Camps

The B7015 begins just to the West of the village of Wilkieston at a realigned T junction on the A71. It heads west, curving to the north of The Camps Industrial Estate, before entering East Calder, or rather the new development of Calderwood. This sprawling new village is growing on the flat plateau area to the north of the B7015, and above the Almond Gorge beyond. Two roundabouts have been added to the B7015 to provide access, the first at a pre existing T junction, the second is completely new. Just after the second, the B7031 turns off to the left. The route then follows a short straight with fields to the left and houses to the right before entering East Calder itself. There are more new houses here as the road rapidly becomes more built-up and narrows a little with traffic calming humps. Main Street is predominantly lined with older buildings, many converted to shops and businesses as the route passes through a traditional village centre.

At the further end of Main Street, the route sweeps round to the right at a traffic-light-controlled T-Junction and heads out of East Calder. It winds westwards between scruffy fields and scrubby woodland before dipping a little to cross the Murieston Water on East Bridge and almost immediately enters the village of Mid Calder on Bank Street. The B8046 comes in from the right at the western end of the bridge, and the two routes then multiplex through Mid Calder, which is smaller than its neighbour, but also still retains a traditional village centre. Maps generally identify the B7015 as the dominant number through the village, but signage always puts the B7015 in Brackets and signs the route as the B8046. The route loops past the shops onto Market Street, and then curves back again to run along above the tree lined river, with a care home to the left. A short, winding run between fields and trees then leads to the further end of the multiplex, where the B7015 TOTSOs right onto Calder Park Road.

A short straight leads past a modern housing estate and under the A899 Almond Valley Bridge, before turning to cross the River Almond on the recently renovated historic monument of the Howden Bridge. On the north bank, the route TOTSOs left; the unclassified road to the right providing access to the A899 at the Almond Interchange. Although the route is already well within the urban area of Livingston New Town, it is only here that it becomes a properly urban route, with housing clearly visible on both sides of the road. A mini-roundabout provides access to the town centre complex on the south side of the river, and a little further on another roundabout gives access to the new Livingston Civic Centre on the left and the Howden Centre and the (currently abandoned) Grade II-listed Howden House to the right. Sweeping uphill on Howden South Road between housing and a school, the route reaches the Braehead Junction, a signalised crossroads converted from a roundabout in 2009.

Now following Kirkton North Road, the route bisects a Commercial Estate, then curves south past some housing before turning sharp right at a mini-roundabout into the historic Livingston Village: the oldest part of the New Town. For nearly a mile, it winds gently westwards between housing estates, acting as a typical distributor route, with a small number of side turnings leading into the residential areas. It then reaches the Mill Roundabout on the A705 and the two routes briefly multiplex westwards to a signalised TOTSO where the A705 turns right to continue ahead while the B7015 once more turns south.

Livingston to Fauldhouse

Bents

The route soon crosses the River Almond again, to enter the Kirkton Campus, a vast (and somewhat unfulfilled) business park, with large areas of woodland between units. Before long it doubles back on itself, turning east as it follows the meandering Simpson Parkway. A long right hand bend carries the road over the Killandean Burn, and onto its original alignment for the first time. As the route continues round the bend, it ultimately regains a westerly course, via another TOTSO junction. The narrow, traffic light controlled Garvieside Bridge carries the route back over the Killandean Burn and so finally out of the urban area into farmland. a sinuous section leads across fields and then, soon after a sharp left bend, there is another TOTSO to the right. A short straight leads to another narrow bridge, Stepend Bridge over the Breich Water and into the hamlet at City Farm. Another long straight then leads past an industrial area and the dramatic Five Sisters Bing, a manmade hill reminding passing traffic of the area's long history of coal mining.

A series of bends then lead past the now defunct Freeport Designer Outlet/Leisure Village, before a straight leads across fields to reach a traffic-light-controlled staggered junction, where the B792 has priority. A couple of fields are then passed before the route enters the village of Stoneyburn. A perfect example of ribbon development, the villages of Stoneyburn and Bents have grown along the road here and into each other and the transition between the villages has now been lost with the local signs referring to Stoneyburn/Bents. Both villages have cores of older buildings, but most of the old miners cottages were poorly built and progressively replaced during the twentieth century giving relatively modern view from the roadside. Main Street leads through Stoneyburn, with a scattering of roadside shops and businesses, the local school then fills the gap, with Wilson Terrace and Cannop Crescent taking the route through Bents.

Eventually the road leaves the village and, losing the speed humps, heads out across fields once more. There are a scattering of houses along the roadside, and a couple of patches of woodland, before the route reaches a signalised crossroads with the A706. It then continues through rural surroundings through a mixture of farmlands and young woodland for about half a mile into the town of Fauldhouse. Some larger houses sit on the outskirts, but most are bungalows as the route follows Sheephouse Hill down into the town. As it reaches the town centre there are more speed humps, and then the route curves right around a small park to end at a T-Junction on the B7010 in the centre of Fauldhouse.

History

The B7015 in Livingston before the New Town developed

The B7015 was first classified in c1927, at which point it started on the B7010 in Fauldhouse and ran east to meet the B792 at the crossroads north of Addiewell. The route was then extended further east to meet the A705 at Livingston Village before 1932. This then remained the full extent of the route until the development of Livingston New Town was well under way. At the time, the eastern end of the route was in Livingston Village, where the route headed south from the Square to cross the River Almond. It then continued along Charlesfield Lane before turning right at a T junction onto Kirkton Road South. The junction with Simpson Parkway has been realigned, as has the TOTSO junction where the route leaves Simpson Parkway.

The current route, through the town, as described above, has come into place since 1974. The new eastern end of the B7015 is the old alignment of the A71 through East Calder and into Mid Calder. Here, the A71 turned left onto Main Street, and so the B7015 continues along the former line of the A705 as far as Howden. The old line of the A705, and probably the initial route of the B7015, then continued ahead, passing to the south of the primary school, to almost reach the roundabout on Kirkton North Road. This is now largely a footpath. It then forked left at the preceeding mini roundabout to run into Livingston Village. The precise chronology of the various changes to the route here is not yet clear.