Calder Junction

Approaching the junction on the bypass

Calder Junction is the junction of the A71 and the A720, the Edinburgh City Bypass. It forms a large, signalized roundabout, with the D2 A720 passing beneath. Its north-facing slips were substantially extended and woven into the Hermiston Gait junction when that was built in 1995. This means that the northbound onslip and southbound offslip for the A720 are each over a mile long, albeit with intermediate connections to the M8. The roundabout stands in a right angle in the Union Canal, which crosses the A720 via an aqueduct to the north and goes underneath the A71 to the east.

The junction most obviously provides a connection between the bypass and the A71, a radial route linking Edinburgh to Heriot Watt University and a park and ride just to the west, then southern Livingston, West Calder, and beyond. However, it also provides access between the M8 and the A71, with a slip from the roundabout immediately branching off to join the M8, and traffic leaving the M8 at the Hermiston Roundabout having a direct link to join the A71, making it the easiest route from the M8 into Edinburgh.

Before the bypass existed, the A71 ran straight across, forming T junctions with Cultins Road (in what is now Bankhead/Sighthill) and Gogar Station Road (in Hermiston village). The construction of the bypass saw the A71 dualled and moved to the south between these junctions, although the old road is largely still in place and used as property access, apart from being severed by the bypass, and car dealership to the east.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A720	City Bypass South, Berwick-upon-Tweed (A1), Edinburgh South & East
A720	City Bypass North, Glasgow, Livingston (M8), Forth Road Bridge (A90), Stirling (M9), Airport (A8), Edinburgh North
A71	Kilmarnock, West Calder, Heriot-Watt University, City Centre Park and Ride	Older signs have the route as primary
A71	Edinburgh West, City Centre, Sighthill, Wester Hailes