Raith Interchange
Raith Interchange | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
Aerial view of the interchange from the south, looking along the A725 | |||
| |||
Location | |||
Bothwell, Lanarkshire | |||
County | |||
Lanarkshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
Transport Scotland | |||
Junction Type | |||
Three Level Stacked Roundabout Interchange | |||
Roads Joined | |||
M74, A725, A7071 | |||
Junctions related to the A725 | |||
The Raith Interchange was opened in 1968 as junction 5 on the M74. When the junction numbering was reversed in 1986 (see M74 and A74(M) History) each junction n became 10-n, so Raith's number was the only one which remained the same.
The junction is a three-level interchange, with the Motorway passing over the roundabout, and the A725 sitting in a deep concrete line cutting below. This is partly because the A725 underpass was inserted nearly fifty years after the junction first opened. The two arms of the M74 and the north eastern arm of the A725 each have normal sliproads with three approach lanes and two departure lanes. To the southwest, however, things are confused by the presence of both the new and old A725 lines, with the old one now carrying the A7071 number. Each of these routes has a normal two lane departure from the roundabout, but the approach is merged via a signalised T junction a short distance from the roundabout. This allows traffic from the A725 to cut across the A7071 traffic to reach the roundabout. This arm then meets the roundabout with two lanes, a third lane providing a direct link to the northbound motorway onslip, bypassing the roundabout.
The roundabout itself is an irregular oval, having been extended when the underpass was added, and has between 2 and four circulatory lanes. There is also a fifth arm to the east, serving the Strathclyde Country Park, which lies alongside the motorway. Segregated pedestrian routes are also threaded through the junction, with at grade crossings of the A7071 and then two footbridges crossing the roundabout, while the A725 is crossed on the southern overbridge, and the M74 passed under on the east side.
History
As originally built, the junction was a standard roundabout interchange with the A725 passing underneath the motorway. The northern part of the A725 was the recently completed Bellshill Bypass, while the southern arm was an online dualling of the old route, which then merged with the old A74 and squeezed over Bothwell Bridge into Hamilton. With the opening of the motorway, the A74 was downgraded and renumbered to be the B7071, and so the southern arm of the A725 was also downgraded, becoming a detached extension of the B7012. This seems to have happened in 1974/5. With the growth of East Kilbride to the west, the former route of the A776 was slowly dualled, as the East Kilbride Expressway, finally resulting in a new connection being built from Raith to Blantyre in 1983. This added an additional roundabout a short distance to the south west where the new dual carriageway met the existing section of B7012.
The new roundabout was called Whistleberry Toll, with the new road then passing over the Clyde and under the B7071, before threading its way between the housing estates to connect to the older part of the Expressway. Raith Interchange was signalised in April 1985, presumably to try and manage the additional traffic on the Expressway. In the early 2000s proposals were made to further improve capacity at the junction. In 2005 three options were put forward all of which eliminated the smaller at-grade Whistleberry Toll roundabout. Two of the proposals had the A725 passing to the north of the junction with a loop allowing traffic from the north to the west to bypass the roundabout. These two options were rejected and the chosen design was for the A725 to be placed in a cutting under both the roundabout and the M74 mainline and realigning the west side of the roundabout westward. Construction started in 2015 and the new junction opened to traffic in 2017.
The junction was named after what appears to be a farm, visible on earlier mapping of the area, and was approximately located underneath where the northbound exit slip road from the M74 now is. There is no connection with the football team Raith Rovers, which is based in Kirkcaldy and named after an area in Fife.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Glasgow, Stirling (M73) | ||
Carlisle | ||
Hamilton, Uddingston (B7071), E. Kilbride | ||
Bellshill (B7070), Coatbridge, Edinburgh (M8) | ||
Uddingston, Hamilton, Bothwell (B7071) | signed as B7071; former B7012 | |
Strathclyde Park |
Links
Roads.org.uk
legislation.gov.uk
Raith Interchange | ||||||
| ||||||
|