Powburn Toll

Powburn Toll is a historic fork junction situated at the point where the old coaching roads from Glasgow to Hamilton and the south, and Edinburgh separated. For centuries, therefore, it was a busy junction, which gained a tollhouse in the turnpike era, giving it its current name. The Pow Burn itself can still be found in the trees of a housing estate on the far side of the motorway, but is largely culverted. Edinburgh traffic was diverted away in the 1920s when the new Glasgow to Edinburgh Road, which became the A8 opened to the north, while the bulk of the rest of the long distance traffic moved onto the nearby M74 in the 1960s. The junction is still busy, however, although primarily with local traffic. On classification in 1922, the Hamilton Road from Glasgow was numbered as the A74 throughout, while the Edinburgh road became the A721 at this point, presumably in anticipation of the opening of the new A8 and subsequent transference of the remaining Edinburgh Traffic. Up until a few years ago, the A74 still reached this junction, but has now been curtailed further west and the A721 extended.

Today, then, the junction has been modified into a T junction, by simply turning the Edinburgh Road (named New Edinburgh Road) across the neck of the fork to meet the Hamilton part of Glasgow Road at right angles. This was presumably done before the M74 opened, as it has made the junction a TOTSO for the A721. The old A74 to the south is now numbered as the B7071 through Uddingston and into Hamilton, crossing the M74 almost immediately to the south.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A721	Glasgow, Carlisle (A721, M74), Stirling (M73)	(formerly A74)
A721	Bellshill
B7071	Uddingston	former A74