M74 motorway

	Template: Infobox high-level road / Maintenance / GB-AM
	A74 (M) motorway in the UK
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Transport Scotland
Overall length:	72.4 km (45 mi )
Countries :	Scotland
Development condition:	six lanes
	The A74 (M) on the English-Scottish border
	South Lanarkshire
	Dumfries and Galloway
	ENGLAND, Cumbria

	Template: Infobox high-ranking road / Maintenance / GB-M
	M74 motorway in the UK
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Transport Scotland
Overall length:	64 km (39.8 mi )
Countries :	Scotland
Development condition:	M8 to AS 6: six lanes ; AS 6 to 12: four lanes ; AS 12 to 13: six lanes
	The M74 at Larkhall
	Glasgow
	South Lanarkshire
	Glasgow
	South Lanarkshire

This sign on the A702 at Abington shows the change in motorway number at junction 13

The M74 Motorway and A74 (M) Motorway are two motorways in the UK . They are located between Glasgow and the English border at Gretna and, together with the M6 motorway, form one of the two main roads between Scotland and England . North of junction 13 is the M74 motorway; south of it is the A74 (M). The majority of the route is six lanes, only a part in the county of Lanarkshire remains four lanes.

M74 motorway

The motorway begins in the urban area of Glasgow on the M8 motorway south of Kingston Bridge, which crosses the Clyde and heads east. At junction 4 it crosses with the M73 motorway , a motorway leading north. The motorway then turns south-east, passing through Lanarkshire , past the towns of Hamilton and Motherwell . It ends at Junction 13 by the village of Abington and merges with the A74 (M).

The section between AS 4 and 8 was opened in 1966 and 1968 and is one of the oldest Scottish motorways. It was part of the project of an uninterrupted four-lane road between London and Glasgow, which was completed in the 1970s, and forms the bypass for some of the suburbs of Glasgow. The junction numbering began in the south, i.e. the opposite of today's situation, numbered from 1 south of Larkhall to 6 at today's junction with the M73. Since further south the main road A74 already had four lanes and mostly passed through less populated landscape than near Glasgow, there was no urgent reason to build a motorway further south. It was not until 1986/1987 that the motorway replaced the old four-lane road to Millbank (at junction 12) and in 1993 to Abington (junction 13). The connection to the Glasgow district of Tollcross was opened in 1994.

After the opening of the last section south of the city center of Glasgow on June 28, 2011, the motorway is complete and forms a rectangular ring of motorways around Glasgow with the M8 and M73 motorways. However, you cannot drive onto the Kingston Bridge (northbound) and vice versa at the southwest corner from the east and the M74 starts at a motorway fork .

A74 (M) motorway

The part of the motorway south of junction 13 was mostly built as a conversion of the old four-lane main road A74. At Gretna it joins the M6 Motorway, which connects to the capital London with the M1 Motorway .

The conversion took place as part of the conversion of the entire road from Carlisle in England (connection to the M6 motorway, which was completed in the 1970s ) to Glasgow to the motorway. The section from Kirkpatrick Fleming to Gretna was already completed in 1992, and this part crossed the English-Scottish border, as well as a part at Elvanfoot . The old main road A74 was under renovation throughout the 1990s, until the last section was completed in 1999 at Beattock . The 6-mile long section in England remained on the A74 for financial reasons, creating the so-called " Cumberland Gap" (Carlisle – Gretna), a gap between two six-lane motorways on each side.

At the same time it was also planned to rename the M74 and A74 (M) to M6 after the entire route had been completed. All signs were made with temporary adhesive for the number A74 (M). In some cases these adhesives peeled off revealing the number M6. After the establishment of the autonomous Scottish government in 1999, however, these plans are uncertain, although the gap on the English side was closed in 2008 and thus English and Scottish motorway networks are also connected. As a result, the number changes twice on a stretch of motorway from Carlisle to Glasgow, with no intervening nodes.

With the exception of one stretch in Glasgow, the A74 has since been downgraded and dismantled and is now designated as B7076 and B7078. The old four-lane road has only been preserved between AS 10 and 12.

Individual evidence

↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2

Web links

Commons : M74 motorway - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : A74 (M) motorway - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry for M74 and A74 (M) on CBRD

[1] Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2