£23m upgrade plan for road

A726 dualling takes step forward

Plans for a £23 million road upgrade in East Kilbride have been lodged with South Lanarkshire Council.

The Greenhills Road/A726 Strathaven Road corridor improvement project is part of the City Deal, which was launched by the UK Government in 2012.

It establishes a £1.13 billion Infrastructure Fund which aims to support 20 projects to improve the transport network across Glasgow and the Clyde Valley; unlock key development and regeneration sites and improve public transport.

Proposals for the A726 are to widen to dual carriageway standard from Calderglen Country Park to the Torrance roundabout and Greenhills Road from the Torrance roundabout westwards to the access to the Langlands development area.

Adjacent to and along the full extent of the new carriageway would be a new three-metre wide combined cycleway/footway.

The cycleway would tie into and complement existing and proposed cycle routes in the area.

And it is proposed the new cycleway/footway and other footways would include enhanced pedestrian/cyclist crossing facilities along the route.

A public exhibition was held at Calderglen Country Park in February.

The plans for the project were put on display and representatives of South Lanarkshire Council’s roads and transportation services were present.

If given the go-ahead, tendering would get underway this autumn/ winter with construction from spring 2018 through to summer 2019.

The City Deal funding will cover 86 per cent of the £23m needed to complete the project with the council contributing 14 per cent towards the total figure.

The project would be designed, procured and constructed by South Lanarkshire Council who would then become responsible for the operation and maintenance of the new road and associated transport infrastructure.

Plans submitted to the council say the upgrade will improve infrastructure to employment areas across East Kilbride and reduce traffic on neighbouring residential type roads; reduce congestion at peak times with associated carbon emission reduction and improve public transport reliability in the area by removing congestion and through traffic from existing routes.

There are also proposals under the City Deal to dual Stewartfield Way.

However, the Greens and the Tory group in East Kilbride have called for this project to be scrapped and a new solution found to improve infrastructure and sustainable transport solutions in the area.