B752
B752 | |||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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From: | Shore Road, Stevenston (NS269411) | ||||||
To: | Ardeer Mains (NS274421) | ||||||
Via: | Caledonian Road, Dubbs Road | ||||||
Distance: | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||||||
Meets: | Unclassified, A738 | ||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||
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For the original B752 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, see B752 (Airdrie).
The B752 is a short link road in the Ayrshire town of Stevenston, which has had a complicated history.
Route
The present route of the B752 starts at a point about 150m south of Stevenston railway station, at the corner of Shore Road and Caledonian Road, by Ardeer parish church. After running eastward for the length of the largely residential Caledonian Road, the route TOTSOs to the left onto Lundholm Road, and quickly reaches a large roundabout junction providing access to the Stevenston Industrial Estate. From here, the B752 follows a 1960s "new build" route which sweeps generally northward on a course first bridging the railway line and then heading through fields towards Dubbs Road at Ardeer Mains, to end on the A738.
History
The initial route
Prior to the construction in 1966 of the new road serving the industrial estate, the B752 had followed a different route northward. Although it started at more-or-less the same point south of Stevenston railway station, it ran northward over the level crossing and followed Station Road and New Street to reach the town centre at the western end of Main Street (the then-A738), by the site of today's library. From here, a short, 100-metre dogleg left along Boglemart Street and then right, took it onto Glebe Street (a "new road" in 1904), which it then followed north to cross High Road, the B739, and on along Mayville Street to meet the A78. The A78 was rerouted onto Glencairn Street prior to 1932, to provide a northern bypass to the old main road, which was renumbered as the B739.
To further confuse the issue, the 1937/8 editions of the OS Six Inch and 25 Inch maps of the area (which are the first to identify the B752) suggests that the dogleg was the other way, not using Glebe Street, but instead Schoolwell Street and then Mayville Street. At the southern end of the route, various start points were shown over the years. The 1:25,000 map generally indicates that the B752 started at the same junction as it does today, only taking the old route north. However, most other maps, at various scales, show the tail of Shore Road as part of the B752. At this time, Shore Road appears to have extended as far as the last of the older houses, where it petered out as a dead end, with no connection ot Ardoch Crescent or Trelawney Terrace, which lay on the far side of a latterly disused railway embankment (There may have been a pedestrian underbridge here).
Ardeer Access Road
The 0.78 mile road from Kilwinning Road (A738) to Lundholm Road (near the golf clubhouse) was an eastern bypass of Stevenston for the Ardeer factory traffic. It was opened by John Holm, Chairman of I.C.I. Nobel Division, "last Thursday" per the Irvine Herald of Friday, 20 May 1966. It had been open for abnormal loads from 26 March 1966. It had a 24 foot carriageway (26 foot on curves) and 10 foot verges (6 foot footpath on west side, south of Dubbs Road). Contractor for bridgeworks and the road south of the bridge was Shanks and McEwen Ltd. of Glasgow. North of the railway bridge was constructed by County Council Direct Labour. Cost was £150,000, partly funded by I.C.I. Nobel Division (£30,000). It is incorrectly shown as B952 on the 1972 OS One inch map.
Even after the rerouting in the 1960s of most of the B752, Glebe Street and Mayville Street remained a detached section of the route for another 40 years – before being declassified in the general renumbering of local roads which accompanied the opening on 21 December 2004 of the "Three Towns" (Ardrossan, Saltcoats, and Stevenston) bypass.