Information About ™M74 Motorway |
The M74 motorway is a major Motorway in Scotland , running from the southern outskirts of Glasgow to the Anglo - Scottish Border at Gretna . In conjunction with the M6 Motorway , it forms one of the two major cross-border routes between Scotland and England. Although the entire motorway is usually referred to as the M74, more than half of its length is officially designated as the A74(M) motorway; see Numbering Confusion below. PRESENT ROUTE The M74 begins at a Roundabout in the Glasgow suburb of Tollcross . It runs in a roughly south-easternly 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 , Moffat and Lockerbie , before terminating at the border near Gretna after around 80 miles, six miles short of the connection to the M6 motorway - this short section remains part of the A74 Road . SOUTHERN EXTENSION There have been plans to complete the motorway link from the M74 to the beginning of the M6 at Carlisle (known as the "Cumberland Gap") for some time. However the project has been delayed due to a number of arguments; the Scottish Executive in Scotland and the Highways Agency in England have attempted to trade away responsibility for building the road - a largely Scottish route in the north of England - and a long-standing agreement for the Executive to build it expired only recently. The Highways Agency has finally agreed to build the road, and it is expected to open towards the end of 2008 , subject to a favourable decision by the Secretary Of State For Transport , Alastair Darling . NORTHERN EXTENSION An equally controversial scheme to extend the motorway exists in Glasgow . The Scottish Executive plans to extend the motorway by 5 miles through the south eastern suburbs of the city to meet the M8 near the Kingston Bridge in an attempt to relieve the chronic congestion of that section of the M8. The road is planned to be elevated up to 100 feet and cut through the suburbs of Dalmarnock , Polmadie , Rutherglen , Govanhill and parts of the Gorbals . The city centre section of this motorway would have been part of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road . A Public Inquiry into the upgrade plans was completed in July 2004 and published in March 2005 , recommending against the building of the road on environmental and commercial grounds - in particular Air Pollution , worries about Chromium dumps from old industrial works beneath the route and implications for funding of public transport. However, then-transport secretary Nicol Stephen announced that the Executive intended to build the road despite the inquiry's outcome. Local residents and politicians have opposed the scheme since its inception, and started a number of campaigns against its construction. Particularly vocal on the issue is Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane , who participated in a similar demonstration against the M77 Motorway in the city. The JAM74 group was founded to oppose the extension, and is currently issuing a legal challenge to the Executive's decision, which could delay the road's opening by up to a year. Despite the legal challenges, the Executive is pressing ahead with the acqusition of land and buildings which stand in the path of the motorway. Complementing the extension would be the city council's proposed East End Regeneration Route which will connect the new section of the M74 with the M8 at the Provan Gas Works/Plantation interchange with the M80. The new road will be an urban corridor, making use of existing stretches of road, and building new filler sections on derelict land. Currently at the planning stage, it is not expected to be completed until 2010 at the earliest. NUMBERING CONFUSION Although the motorway is usually referred to in public as the M74 motorway, this is not the ''de jure'' situation. South of Abington, the road is officially the A74(M) motorway and this is noted on each sign in this southern section of the road (save for one erroneous "M74" sign at Gretna Green services). However, as the motorway is one continuous route and has a continuous junction numbering system, its entirety is usually 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. There is a long-standing plan, once the southern extension of the road is complete, to rename the motorway as part of the M6, creating a 350-mile motorway from Rugby to Glasgow. 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. The Scottish Executive, however, has denied there are plans to rename the motorway. JUNCTIONS SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Official sites on the upgrades
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