B768

The B768 is an urban B-road to the south of Glasgow city centre.

Route

Approaching the M77 junction

The route starts in Ibrox, at a roundabout on the A8 adjacent to the football stadium of that name. It heads south east along Broomloan Road, which becomes a dual carriageway, and soon crosses the A761 at traffic lights directly above a railway line. Immediately beyond the junction, the eastbound onslip for the M8 at J23 forks left. The junction only has east-facing sliproads, the offslip meeting the B768 at traffic lights on the far side of the bridge. Now following Drumbreck Road, the route winds through trees as it skirts Bellahouston Park before straightening up and heading south past some rather desirable large old stone properties. Drumbreck Road then widens out to be a dual carriageway once more, passing through a signalised T junction before meeting its second (and final) motorway, the M77, at J1. This has full access, even if the westbound onslip needs a large loop to the east to avoid a golf course. After four sets of traffic lights in quick succession, Drumbreck Road loses its central reservation, but remains S4 as it winds along the northern edge of Pollok Country Park.

Houses sit behind the trees to the north, but there are no frontages or junctions, so no on street parking is encountered. A couple of park access roads turn off to the right, however. At the further end of this section, traffic lights control a skewed crossroads (with a fifth arm for the park), where the B769 heads off to the right. The B768 continues eastwards along Titwood Road, which remains S4 as it passes under a railway line, and through fairly typical suburbia. Houses now line both sides of the road, leading to on street parking and bus stops blocking much of the inside lanes. After passing a supermarket, another set of traffic lights by Crossmyloof station sees the B768 TOTSO right, while the B763 continues ahead. Minard Road immediately goes over the railway line from the station and then follows a straight alignment through a chasm of tall red sandstone tenement blocks.

The A77 is crossed at traffic lights, with the route continuing ahead on Langside Avenue, which runs along the southern edge of Queen's Park. The elegant Langside Hall stands on the corner by the junction, opposite more tenements, but these soon give way to modern low rise blocks of flats, screened by trees. The route then curves uphill to the roundabout at Battle Place, which is dominated by a monument to the Battle of Langside which took place in 1568. Continuing east on Battlefield Road, the old Victoria Infirmary has had modern appendages removed and is being redeveloped as housing. At the next set of lights, the B766 turns off to the right continuing along Battlefield Road, while the B768 curves left onto Prospecthill Road which soon passes the New Victoria Hospital. After crossing over a railway line just to the north of Mount Florida station, traffic lights assist in the staggered crossing of Cathcart Road, an unclassified road which was formerly the A728.

Prospecthill Road, Rutherglen

Prospecthill Road then takes a curving route across a hillside, with housing above and below but no entrances onto the road itself. A gentle, curving descent between trees and areas of grass leads to the current A728, which is crossed at more lights. The route then runs between a Supermarket and Football training centre and across a public open space to reach Rutherglen. There are a couple of short sections of central reservation at junctions, but most of this section is S4 as it continues eastwards past blocks of post war flats. Westmuir Place is quickly reduced to S2 to provide parking bays for the houses on either side. The route then kinks left onto Burnhill Street, which becomes S4 again as it approaches the A730. The two routes cross at traffic lights, with the B768 continuing east along Main Street into Rutherglen's town centre. Main Street is wide, but with wide pavements in front of the shops, bus lanes and hatched centres for pedestrian crossings, there is only one traffic lane each way.

After passing the old parish church and stately Town Hall, the pavement on the left widens to accommodate the old Mercat Cross. A little further along, the A749 is crossed at Rutherglen Cross, which lies at the eastern end of the town centre. The shops soon end, and after a couple of tenement blocks, mid twentieth century council housing takes over, including some blocks with some interesting art-deco style features. The final section of the route is largely residential. It ends at the eastern end of Main Street at the signalised Gallowflat Roundabout on the A724.

History

The B768 originally crossed the River Clyde

Although the B768 has always existed in this area, only a small proportion of the route runs along its original 1922 line. The original northern end of the B768 was on the B810 (now A82) in Kelvinside. It headed south along Byres Road (now the B808 into Kelvinhaugh where it crossed the River Clyde by ferry to reach Govan; the ferry still exists but is now for pedestrians only. After a short multiplex east along the A8, latterly the B860, the route continued south down Broomloan Road to reach its current northern end at Ibrox. The construction of the parallel Clyde Tunnel presumably made this section redundant, although the B768 still reached Kelvinside in the early 1970s. The 1974 OS One Inch sheet still shows Byres road as an unclassified B road, but the ferry approaches are coloured yellow indicating they are unclassified. In more recent years the B768 has been declassified completely between the Clyde and Ibrox, while the northernmost section of the route is now the B808.

Continuing south, the section from Ibrox to Pollok Park has always been the B768 , but it used to turn south onto Haggs Road rather than continue east along Titwood Road into Crossmyloof. The old alignment is now the B769 into Shawlands, where it crossed the A736 Pollokshaws Road with a short multiplex. The next section has been redeveloped, but Ashtree Road and Riverford Road show the general alignment. Following the construction of Wellgreen Court, the multiplex was extended a short distance to Pollokshaws Burgh Hall and then uses Christian Street to get back to Ashtree Road. After crossing the A77, it followed Newlands Road into Cathcart, ending on the A727 (now the B762). This section was declassified (except for the bit that became B769) some time after 1975 and the B768 was rerouted along the current, more northerly route.

Of the current route, the section through Crossmyloof into Toryglen was originally unclassified. From there to Rutherglen it was the B765 and the remainder was the A730. The B768 has re-routed onto this line in the later 1970s or 1980s as part of a wholesale review of classified routes in southern Glasgow.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Cathcart - Govan - Kelvinside