Whirlies Roundabout

Some of the Roadside Art on the roundabout

The Whirlies Roundabout is a signalised roundabout at the southern end of the A749 in East Kilbride, which forms a part of a much larger junction complex stretching to the north. The roundabout has five arms, three of which are dual carriageways, with the A725 route, which forms the eastern part of the Glasgow Southern Orbital passing through, making it very busy. It is perhaps for this reason that the A725 has a spur to the north connecting to the A749 at the next roundabout to remove some traffic from this junction. In addition to the two A roads, the B783 also meets the junction from the west, and an unclassified distributor route heads south east through the suburbs. All five arms of the roundabout have three approach and two departure lanes, although the two minor routes quickly reduce to single carriageway. The roundabout itself has three spiralled circulatory lanes.

The junction is not fully signalised - only the three A roads have traffic lights, while there is an additional left turn slip lane from the eastern arm of the A725 into Calderwood Road. The large central island is grassed with bushes and shrubs, set within a red brick surround. On the south side of the island is a paved layby for maintenance teams to use.

History

The roundabout appears to be one of the oldest pieces of road infrastructure built in the East Kilbride New Town, dating back to the 1950s. At that time the A749 continued south to meet the A726, while what is now the eastern arm of the A725 was a somewhat shorter route numbered the A776 which terminated on the A724 in Hamilton. None of the routes were dualled, although mapping suggests that the space for the second carriageway had been set aside for future proofing. The A776 and northern part of the A749 were both dualled between 1965 and 1968 and the southern part of the A749 had been widened by 1972. A few years later, with the construction of the East Kilbride Expressway, the A725 was extended west through Blantyre and along the A776 and A749 routes to meet the A726 at the Birniehill Roundabout to the south.

Although the roundabout appears to have originally been laid out as a four arm junction, the western arm, East Mains Road appears to have been left as an unfinished stub for a number of years. The 1959 OS One Inch sheet shows it as a proposed or under construction route, and it is not until 1963 that the B783 is depicted as complete. Similarly, the unclassified Calderwood Road had originally terminated on the A776 a short distance to the east of the roundabout, but appears to have been diverted to the junction when the A776 was dualled.

Route	To	Notes
A725	Coatbridge, Hamilton (A724), Carlisle (M74), Glasgow (M74)
A725	Strathaven, Paisley (A726)
A749	Museum of Rural Life
B783	East Mains, West Mains, The Village
	Calderwood, St Leonards