A74(M) and M74 motorways

M74
Route information
Part of E05
Length	40 mi (64 km)
Existed	1966–present
History	Constructed 1966 - 2011
Major junctions
North end	Tradeston 55.85383°N 4.270399°W / 55.85383; -4.270399 (M74 motorway (northern end))
Major intersections	J1 → M8 motorway J4 → M73 motorway J13 → A74(M) motorway
South end	Abington 55.5067°N 3.6974°W / 55.5067; -3.6974 (M74 motorway (southern end))
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Glasgow
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

A74(M)
Route information
Part of E05
Length	45 mi (72 km)
Existed	1991–present
History	Constructed 1991–1999
Major junctions
From	Abington (See M74 above.)
Major intersections	J13 → M74 motorway J22 → M6 motorway
To	Gretna 54.9975°N 3.0562°W / 54.9975; -3.0562 (A74(M) motorway (southern end))
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Dumfries
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

M74 near Larkhall.

The A74(M) and M74 motorways form a major motorway in Scotland. Following an extension opened on 28 June 2011, it connects the M8 motorway west of Glasgow to the English border at Gretna, creating an alternative route for traffic moving from the south to the west of the city. In conjunction with the M6 motorway, it forms one of the two major cross-border routes between Scotland and England. It is part of the unsigned international E-road network E05. Although the entire route is usually referred to as the M74, more than half of its length is officially designated as the A74(M); see numbering confusion below.

Route

From its junction with the M8 just south of of the Kingston Bridge, the new section of motorway passes through the Glasgow districts of Govanhill, Polmadie, Oatlands and parts of the nearby towns of Rutherglen and Cambuslang on an elevated embankment with junctions at Kingston, Polmadie Road, Cambuslang and Tollcross before connecting to the pre-existing M74. It then runs in a roughly south-easterly direction past the Clyde Valley towns of Bothwell, Hamilton and Motherwell before meeting the cross-country A71 at Larkhall. It passes west of Lanark and beyond Abington, where it changes into the A74(M) and then goes to Moffat and Lockerbie, before connecting to the M6 in an end-on connection.

The M74 (from Junction 4 southwards) and the A74(M) are part of the E05 Euroroute which runs from Greenock to Algeciras. North from Junction 4, the E05 takes a short stretch of the M73 connecting to the M8 and then proceeds westwards through Glasgow to Greenock; and southwards continues on the M6 through England.

History

The original M74 - 1960s

The A74 was the original route from Glasgow to Gretna, where it met the A6, which was a continuation of the route south to London.

In the 1930s the single carriageway A74 road between Gretna and Glasgow was progressively upgraded to dual carriageway, being completed in the early 1970s with the completion of the Gretna bypass.

However, at the northern end of the route, it was not possible simply to add to the existing carriageway because of the built-up nature of the area. A new bypass was built in the 1960s, and was constructed as one of Scotland's first motorways, the M74. The motorway was constructed from Draffan to Maryville, North of Uddingston and completed by 1969. Junctions were originally numbered South -> North, as there were plans to extend the M74 northwards at a later stage. This did not happen for many decades.

The northern section of M74 around Hamilton was built as 3 lane dual carriageway, narrowing to 2 lane dual carriageway south of today's Junction 6. The M74 then met the dual carriageway A74 at Draffan and carried on to Carlisle.

First southward extension (1972-1987)

As previously mentioned, the southern sections of A74, where there was no need to bypass the existing route, were not originally upgraded to motorway standard, but to dual carriageway- without hard shoulders or full grade separation. The gradual construction of the M6 from Rugby (where it met the M1 to London) to Carlisle in 1970, where it terminated on the A74, meant that the route from Glasgow to London was entirely dual carriageway.

This lead to calls for the already dualled A74 from Draffan to Carlisle (M6) to be upgraded a second time, to motorway standard. As the government had already invested in the dual carriageway upgrade, they initially resisted these calls. However, in 1972 the Government agreed to extend the M74 from its current terminus at Draffan, eventually to today's J12 at Millbank. It was built in 3 sections, opening 1986-87. It was constructed to dual 2 lane standard, and included a bypass of Lesmahagow. As it was a direct continuation, it opened as M74 however the junction numbers were switched to go from north -> south following the upgrade (Draffan was originally junction 1).

1990s extension to Scottish Border (1992 - 1999), and confused identity

In 1987, the Conservative government committed to upgrading the remaining A74 from M74 J12 to the M6 at Carlisle to motorway standard. When the first section opened, as far south as Abington (J12-J13) in 1991, it was numbered M74. Following this, the government announced that the completed route would take the M6 number, as the two motorways would meet head on at Carlisle. The Scottish section of the A74 was then upgraded in sections, these were not all contiguous with each other, and were signed A74(M) - a temporary number until all the sections were complete, and the 8 mile English section had been constructed and connected to the M6. They were constructed with dual 3 lane carriageways. In 1995 the first northern extension also occurred, to Fullerton road in Glasgow, it was signed as M74. The Scottish A74 upgrades were complete by 1999. This left an anomaly - The M74 began at Glasgow, then at J13 arbitrarily changed its number to A74(M) which it kept for 40 miles to the border. Meanwhile, the English 8 mile section of A74 was not upgraded due to lack of funds, leaving the "Cumberland Gap" of 8 miles of sub standard dual carriageway between 2 three lane motorways. Until around 1996, the change of designation to M6 once the Cumberland Gap had been closed was definite. When the Scottish Executive was established in 1999, taking over responsibility for roads in Scotland, Sarah Boyack said that "We have no current plans to rename or redesignate the M74 or A74(M) motorways between Glasgow and the border as the M6". The current Scottish Government have not commented further on the matter.

M6 Carlisle - Guards Mill (2004-2008)

Plans to upgrade the English section of A74 (Cumberland Gap) from the Scottish border at Gretna to Carlisle were announced in 2004. Costing £174m, this was constructed as M6 as originally planned in the 1990s, and was opened on 5 December 2008.. This means that there is now a complete motorway from Rugby to Glasgow, with three numbers (M6, A74(M) and M74).

M74 northern extension to M8 (2008-2011)

See also: List of road protests in the UK and Ireland

Construction work on the six lane M74 Northern Extension (M74 Completion) to extend the M74 northwards by 5 miles (8.0 km) through the south-eastern Glasgow to meet the M8 started in 2008 with opening on 28th June 2011. The extension involved the demolition of the Rosebery Park football ground.

The city centre section of this motorway is supposed to perform a similar role to the never-built southern flank of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road planned in the 1960s, and first set out as a scheme in the Bruce Report of the 1940s, but only half-completed. The scheme was at the centre of a road protest from local campaigners and environmentalists; their appeal against the road orders collapsed in June 2006. Alex Salmond officially launched the construction work on 28 May 2008.

The project, initially expected to cost £444 million, ran considerably over-budget at £692 million. There was a £12 million allowance for grouting of old mine workings.

East End Regeneration Route

Road sign on the A702 showing the change in designation.

Main article: Glasgow EERR

Construction of the East End Regeneration Route which will connect the M74 Northern Extensions with the M8 motorway at the Provan Gas Works interchange with the M80 motorway began in 2008 with completion expected in 2011. It will make use of existing stretches of road and filler sections on currently derelict land.

Naming confusion

See also: M6 motorway

The motorway is usually referred to in public as the M74 motorway, but south of Abington, the road is really the A74(M) motorway, noted on each sign in this southern section of the road (save for one erroneous "M74" sign at Gretna Green services). As the motorway is one continuous route and has a continuous junction numbering system, its entirety is usually erroneously referred to as M74. Typically, upgraded A-road designations like A74(M) are retained for short bypasses of existing road, whereas the M74/A74(M) is one continuous intercity route.

When the A74(M) was constructed in the 1990s, many of the signs were given patches with the A74(M) number on: these patches can be peeled away to reveal "M6" underneath. One such sign, which can be seen at the VOSA checkpoint just past the Crawford/Thornhill on-slip, states that it is the "M6 South" instead of the "A74 (M)" South.

Junction re-numbering

Following the building of the original section of the M74, the motorway was numbered south-to-north, with Draffan being junction 1 and Maryville junction 6. When the M74 was extended south of Draffan in the late 1980s, it was renumbered north-to-south. Raith remained as J5, while Maryville became J4, allowing for later extension towards Glasgow. The original junction 1 at Draffan was closed, with a new junction 9 (Kirkmuirhill) replacing it, utilising the southbound carriageway of the old A74 as a slip-road. The remains of the semi-circular access road to the southbound carriageway is still visible at Draffan Road, with the Blackwood sliproad now used as an access road to new housing. In preparation for the extension to meet the M8 south of the Kingston Bridge, junctions 1-3 have been renumbered 2A,3, and 3A in order to accommodate the new junctions.

Junctions

M74 Motorway
Northbound exits	Junction	Southbound exits
Glasgow Airport M8 Kilmarnock M77		Start of Motorway
Tradeston Kinning Park	J1	Tradeston Kinning Park
Polmadie B763 Rutherglen (A730)	J1A	Polmadie B763 Rutherglen (A730)
Rutherglen, Cambuslang A724	J2	Rutherglen, Cambuslang A724
Tollcross, Rutherglen A74	J2A	Tollcross Cambuslang A74
Shettleston, Cambuslang A763	J3	No access
No access	J3A	Tannochside, Uddingston A721
Stirling, Kincardine Bridge M73 Uddingston, Mount Vernon A721	J4	Stirling, Kincardine Bridge, Edinburgh M73
		Bothwell services Southbound only
Bellshill, Coatbridge, East Kilbride, Edinburgh A725	J5	Bellshill, Coatbridge, East Kilbride, Edinburgh A725
Hamilton services Northbound only
Hamilton, Motherwell A723	J6	Motherwell, Hamilton A723
No access	J7	Lanark, Larkhall A72
Kilmarnock, Edinburgh A71 Larkhall B7078	J8	Kilmarnock, Edinburgh A71
No access	J9	Kirkmuirhill, Blackwood, Lesmahagow, Coalburn B7078
Lesmahagow, Kirkmuirhill, Blackwood B7078	J10	No Access
No access	J11	Edinburgh, Ayr B7078 (A70) Happendon (Cairn Lodge) Services
Edinburgh, Ayr A70 Happendon (Cairn Lodge) Services	J12	No access
Road continues as M74	J13	Edinburgh A702 Lanark A73 Abington services
A74(M) motorway
Northbound exits	Junction	Southbound exits
Edinburgh A702 Lanark A73 Abington services	J13	Road continues as A74(M)
Crawford, Thornhill A702	J14	Crawford, Thornhill A702
Moffat, Dumfries A701	J15	Moffat, Selkirk A701
Johnstonebridge B7076 Annandale Water Services	J16	Johnstonebridge B7076 Annandale Water Services
Lockerbie B7076	J17	Lockerbie, Dumfries B7076
Lockerbie, Dumfries B723	J18	No access
Ecclefechan B7076	J19	Ecclefechan B7076
Eaglesfield, Annan B722	J20	Eaglesfield, Annan, Kirtlebridge B722
Kirtlebridge, Kirkpatrick Fleming B7076 Canonbie B6357	J21	Canonbie B6357 Kirtlebridge, Kirkpatrick Fleming B7076
Gretna Green Services
Dumfries, Stranraer, Gretna A75	J22	Longtown (A6071) Gretna, Gretna Green B7076 A74(M) now continues as M6 to Carlisle, Penrith and THE SOUTH

See also

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

External links

• CONSTRUCTION OF M74 MOTORWAY (1966) (archive film from the National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE)

Official sites on the upgrades

• Northern extension
• Southern extension
• Public Inquiry findings

Other sites

• JAM74: Joint Action against the M74
• Friends of the Earth: Stop Motorway Madness
• The Motorway Archive - M74/A74(M)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7244627.stm
• M74-M8 Interchange - Clyde Waterfront regeneration