19th century , who was responsible for creating the route of what became the A74 as it existed for much of the 19th and 20th centuries The A74 evolved from the Glasgow – Carlisle mail route. Originally, this followed the course of
Roman roads, but by the early 19th century, this had become impractical as a fast through route for mail coaches. Telford was particularly concerned about being able to reduce gradients and improve drainage on roads, The route was surveyed by
William Alexander Provis in 1814–15, The project was completed in 1825 at a total cost of £50,000, and like the earlier route, it was tolled. While the various
turnpike trusts retained control for a few sections, the vast majority was rebuilt under the direction of Telford. and carrying the road over
Cartland Craigs by a 130-foot viaduct. According to author Frederick Mort, the Glasgow to Carlisle road "became a model for future engineers."
20th century In 1916, Telford's original metal bridge was replaced by a modern concrete structure at a cost of £16,000. A small section of the original bridge was housed in Tullie House Museum in Carlisle. with the Glasgow – Carlisle road receiving the number A74, mostly following the route as designed by Telford. On 16 May 1936, the road was diverted away from Telford's route to run from Glasgow to Motherwell via
Uddingston — it is a portion of this realignment that forms the modern A74 route within Glasgow. A contemporary report also suggested renumbering the entire A74, along with the
A82 as an extension of the
A6 to
Inverness, matching the London — Carlisle — Glasgow — Inverness trunk road as used in internal Ministry of Transport documentation, but this was rejected as the cost of replacing signs would be prohibitively expensive. Due to its continued status as one of the most important connections between England and Scotland, talks began in the 1950s to improve its quality to cater for modern motor traffic. While a section of
dual carriageway had already been completed before
World War II,
Tom Steele, then MP for
Lanark, was particularly keen on the entire route from Carlisle to Uddingston being dualled before the mid-1960s. On 2 August 1956, he received a memo from the Secretary of State for Transport about the matter, which stated "the plan is to complete the conversion in about 10 years. When this work is completed there will be a dual carriageway leading from the Border to Uddingston with no built-up areas along its length." By the early 1960s, these plans had changed to consider building a motorway in preference for the more straightforward online upgrades. The original section of the M74 in the mid-1960s ran from just north of
Kirkmuirhill in South Lanarkshire, connecting to an earlier dual carriageway bypass, to
Hamilton. It was completed northwards in two stages, initially to Bothwell Bridge, and then Uddingston. In 1987, the then Secretary of State for Scotland,
Malcolm Rifkind, announced the intention of completing the M74 from Glasgow to Carlisle. This commenced with a series of "fast track" road improvements, the initial two being between Abington and Millbank, then from Kirkpatrick Fleming to Gretna. By 2008, the A74(M) motorway extended southwards to the northern terminus of the
M6, at the Scottish border, and was extended northwards in the mid-1990s as far as the Glasgow suburbs of
Carmyle and
Tollcross. In 2011 it was further extended to meet the M8. The parallel road which was the A74 has been mostly downgraded in two sections as the B7076 and B7078.
Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap (named after the historic county of
Cumberland, now part of
Cumbria) was the to 2008, when the M6 was extended northwards. Scottish ministers had previously expressed disappointment at slow progress over the border; in 1964,
Dumfries MP
Hector Monro stated "there is widespread feeling in the south of Scotland that the advance south over the Border of this important new road is being delayed because England is dragging her feet." When the M6 was complete around Carlisle in 1971, a new section of dual carriageway A74 was created to tie in with the original road running from Kingstown. The 1916 Metal Bridge also had to be replaced, in order to accommodate the increased traffic levels. An offer from the Scottish Executive to build the road to meet the M6 was not accepted by the English
Highways Agency. This left a remnant of the old A74 as a stretch of two-lane
dual carriageway between two long, three-lane
motorways. Lex Gold, the director of the Scottish
Confederation of British Industry, said "We are very disappointed indeed by this part of the programme revision. This will mean that for now and many years, road users will face a six-mile [9.6 km] dual carriageway between an excellent Scottish motorway and before the road widens for the existing M6." On 1 July 1999, following
devolution, control of the A74 improvements passed over to the Scottish Parliament, meaning that they could only improve the route as far as the border. After years of political battles between the English
Highways Agency and the
Scottish Executive, followed by a lengthy design and public enquiry phase, Due to delays with the
G8 Conference in 2005, construction work started on 25 July 2006, and included a replacement for the 1971 Metal Bridge, and a new
VOSA testing site. The new stretch of road was officially opened by
Lord Adonis on 5 December 2008, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first motorway in the UK, the
Preston Bypass, now also part of the M6. It subsequently became one of the finalists for the Prime Minister's Award for Better Public Building (losing to
Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College). ==Safety and accidents==