Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town to the east of Glasgow. It lies on the historic route of the Glasgow to Edinburgh road and whilst today it may be viewed by some as a poor neighbour of Airdrie, it was for many decades an important industrial centre served by Canals, roads and later railways, of which a tangled web still lies to the west of the town centre. The industrial heritage of the area is displayed at the Summerlee Museum, itself sited in an old industrial site alongside the Monklands Canal. The canal connected the collieries and Steel works around Coatbridge and Airdrie (an area often referred to as Monklands) to Glasgow to the west.

The A89 is the main route through the town, and is the original route of the A8. It now bypasses the town centre on the 'South Circular Road' - which is perhaps somewhat less famous than its London namesake! The A8 itself was moved south with the opening of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Road in the 1930s, a road which is being upgraded again 80 years later to complete the M8 motorway. This upgrade will see the new motorway partially realigned to provide better junctions and access to the vast industrial estates that lie to the south of the motorway and doubtless provide a lot of employment opportunities to the people of Coatbridge.

Back in the town centre, and a little to the south of the A89, the B753 makes a loop around the towns southern suburbs, although the town has grown so much that the outer suburbs are only served by unclassified distributor roads. This may change in the future, however, with the new motorway retaining a parallel access road, which will potentially allow more junctions than the existing dual carriageway has. To the north of the town centre, the B803 and B804 serve the north side, crossing over a railway bridge. The north east side of the town, however, is again reliant on unclassified distributor routes, with Townhead Road running out through the country park to the A752 to the west. This route clips the western edge of Coatbridge, loosely paralleling the M73, and crossing the A89 at Bargeddie.

Finally, the A725 starts in Coatbridge, already as a dual carriageway. This is one of the more important A roads in the urban fringe of Glasgow, as it heads south to the motorway, where it becomes a Trunk Road, bypassing Bellshill to connect to the M74. Continuing South west it becomes part of the Glasgow Southern Orbital, before terminating in East Kilbride.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
M8	Glasgow
M73	The NORTH, Stirling, Kincardine Br. (M80)
M73	The SOUTH, Carlisle (M74)
A8	Bathgate, Livingston, Edinburgh (M8)
A725	Hamilton (B7071), East Kilbride, Carlisle (M74)
A8	Glasgow
A89	Glasgow
A89	Airdrie
A752	Gartcosh, Muirhead
A752	Tannochside, Uddingston
B753		Southern loop around town
B803	Glenmavis
B804	Glenboig
B757	Gartcosh, Muirhead	Now the A752
B757	Uddingston	Now the A752
M8	Edinburgh, Livingston, Bathgate
A8	Eurocentral, Chapelhill, Edinburgh (M8)