Yeah, like the roundabout on the M77 heading into Ayr from the north. Hey, let's just add more lanes because we can. Who cares if a lane suddenly splits into three in the middle of the roundabout. 😅
Don't mean to sound heavy man, but what a comment on the society of today that for reanimation, we go straight to Zombies with nary a mention of Christian resurrection.
I hitched to Glasgow and beyond a couple of times in the early eighties, once we were picked up near Carlisle by a Scottish lorry driver who was an amature opera singer, his practice spot was from Gretna Green onwards whilst driving he sang in Italian a full hour then stopped at a services ate a huge dinner while we watched hungrily. Back on the road never said another word. Still dropped us off in town, top man.
I remember in the late 80s there was an M74 laboratory somewhere in the bit between the M6 and the M74 (proper) and I remember thinking "How hard could it be ?" !
My grandad was involved in the construction of the original part aka the A74 in the late 50s/early 60s. He'd probably be amazed at what it looks like now since he unfortunately passed in 1988.
The M74 extension, in my opinion, was much needed as it cut out the diversion onto the M8 through possibly its busiest section at Townhead. When I used to go up and down to Newcastle on a regular basis, it saved me about 30 minutes per journey.
My wife used to work for Strathclyde Council. The M74 extension used to be shelved and resurrected regularly for decades. It used to be said, only half jokingly, that half the civil engineers in Scotland got their charterships on the strength of designing motorway structures for it that were ultimately never built.
The M74 extension was a welcome addition, as it means I can travel on dual carriageway from Ayr to York near enough all the way. (This will change when they dual more of the A66) Especially since they build the A/M77 ( which I worked on)
Especially like the Scottish specific theme tune and it’s good to se that road planning/ construction up here is as abysmal the rest of the country 😂 and the Taggart theme must always be followed by “ There’s been a muurrder!”😂😂
I'm surprised you missed the "M6 South" sign at the DVSA Weighstation (Southbound) exit between junctions 14 (Crawford) and 15 (Moffat) when you did the M6 bit.
Great to have an exciting episode on my local Motorway! Incidentally, everyone refers to the A74(M) section as the M74 - I don't know why they don't just change the name.
You could do a full video on the B7076 and B7078, those are the remainder of the old A74 dual carriageway. Its practically a motorway and almost abandoned, and theres plenty of completely abandoned parts of the old single carriageway Telford road.
I remember before jct 12 was amended for the A70 to go under it, previous to that the 74 and 70 were a crossroads and it was like whacky races getting across it 😱
0:35 The motorway was under construction for 45 years, not over 50. That would mean that the M74 could have either been one of Britain's first (1961) or one of its most recent (2016) motorways!
@@stephenduncan3605 I thought that to, but it's pretty obscure (sorry Ian Rankin). The only others I could think of would be The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, or Trainspotting. Incidentally there's currently a film crewed based in Cameron Toll car park working on a new Rebus adaptation.
You missed the really twisty bit a bit further south (or maybe that's for the A74(M). Two of the best bends in the whole network!!!! And, if you're lucky, you can race a train along that valley...
Another bit of M74 trivia you missed, originally it was numbered south to north, with Draffan being J1. When they started to build southwards it was reversed, with the Raith staying as J5. There also used to be a sliproad off the northbound A74 at Kirkmuirhill onto Strathaven Road. Great to see the old Draffan loop sliproad by drone, and there used to be a railway bridge over the A74 nearby
Back in the day, I spun my mk2 Ford Orion on the infamous loop at the Maryville Interchange...... never have I needed clean pants more! lol! The M74 extension was badly needed, as the Kingston Bridge just couldnt cope with traffic and Townhead was a bottleneck at the best of times. Removing a lot of traffic that was wanting to head south helped cut journey times by a fair chunk. I hope you enjoy your trip to Scotland - Im sure Ill spot you checking out the M898 :)
The sides of the approach embankment to the “temporary “ bridge at that loop were so steep that it had to be constructed of layers of lean concrete, designed by, er, me, and intended to be relatively easy to remove. Had reinforced earth technology been around at the time, it would probably have been used instead.
Perhaps you could investigate why the M6 and A1(M) terminated at Greta and Newcastle respectively? Why it took until 2008 to connect Glasgow to the south with a motorway and why there is still no motorway south from Edinburgh to Newcastle?
"no motorway south from Edinburgh to Newcastle" That's because the English think that Glasgow is the capital of Scotland so ignore Edinburgh. The relatively new dual stretches of the A1 have motorway rules, so perhaps the idea was that they could be re-designated motorways in future.
I think that is down to transport in Scotland being a devolved matter. Scotland's road system is financed, built and maintained by Transport Scotland under the direction of the Scottish parliament who set priorities which may be different to the English authorities.
If you drive along the A1 from Edinburgh to Newcastle, the terrain doesn't lend itself well to being a motorway. I think most of it is likely a funding issue as a result. Edinburgh has part of the A1 (about a 15 mile section) as an expressway, marked with 70mph signs (not national speed limit) and vans are permitted to go at 70mph and lorries at 60mph on this section, like a motorway; traffic types are also restricted the same as a motorway. Through Berwickshire and near Dunbar, you'd struggle to follow the A1 route and would need to build the motorway another way and re-designate the existing A1 as a different A road.
@@David8n It'll be slightly more complicated than that but essentially you are right. If there was any attempt to upgrade the A1, It'll also be likely come down to trying to get Westminster to partially pay for the project as improving the A1 would benefit those travelling south to England as well as North to Scotland. It's possible that that is why extending the M6 North from Carlisle to the border took so long to be built. The same situation is definitely partially responsible for it taking so long for the A8 to be upgraded to Dual carriageway in Northern Ireland.
The map of the proposed motorway at 5:42 has an error. that is the M8. the M77 would be the other direction. The a725 upgrade at Junction 5 is a massive improvement. traffic was a nightmare. It would be nice if there was a motorway here as it would link the M77 the m74 and m8 together bypassing Glasgow and all the roundabouts at East Kilbride. Would serve much of the south of glasgow as well as EK, Bellshill Coatbridge would be fastest route from Edinburgh to Ayrshire. Would just make sense and if you look on the map there is room to squeeze it in
Was just about to comment the same thing. However, they are currently upgrading Airbles Road in Motherwell and have installed a new bridge under the WCML to create a dual carriageway from junction 6 of the M74 up to Eurocentral on the M8.
Maryhill road in glasgow from city centre to canniesburn toll should have been a motorway and the start would have been the mysterious dead-end slip road that would have left from the off-side lane next to Stow College building! Can you imagine! So many houses would have been demolished in the process
7:30 you totally missed the old motorway (dual carriageway) that runs parallel from junction 9/10 south. One side has been turned into a cyclepath the other a two way road in parts. If you look you can see it from the roundabout at tesco lesmahagow.
The map of all the possible planned motorways and trunk roads in Glasgow seems to be using a lot of old railway alinements. For example, the route to the west of Paisley that then curves around the south of the town to head towards Barrhead and Giffnock is an abandoned rail line. I used to play on it as a kid. The A road from the centre of Paisley heading east appears to be the canal line that was disused when I was a baby but reopened for passenger trains when I was a teenager.
Although I’ve never driven on the M74, I have been driven on it, for a short distance where it splits at the M77/M8 today … was a long time ago and remember very little - so this video was like watching a Motorway I’ve never visited! Splendid!
@@AutoShenanigans All good this end my friend....and I hope you are too. Please keep up your funny and fascinating episodes. That 100k will soon come :-) 👋👋👍
Great video John, it's always baffles me from the English border it's A74(M) and then M74 to Glasgow and why not from the M6 call it M74 all the way to Glasgow. I do remember going on this route being the A74 from the end of the M6 I was going fro Wrexham to Hamilton and Stirling in 1987 in a C reg Austin Meastro 1.6L it was a long drive.Thanks for the video I've enjoyed it. Take care mate
Don't know if is deliberate, or you were just feeling tired but I am appreciating the slightly slower delivery in this video, helps my small brain absorb the facts more easily. You don't need to gabble, you've plenty of good stuff to say. Thanks as always.
Totally agree about the A725 - it should link M8, M74 and M77 better than it does. Coming from the east, and not necessarily having to go through Glasgow (say heading down south, or down to Stranraer for the ferry) it would be a winner. Same for something better than the A701 from Abington to Edinburgh.
The road from Larkhall towards Ayr is the shortcut going to Stranraer. But aye the southern motorway on that pic should have definitely been built, even if it was to bypass a lot of traffic from going though Glasgow that would have made sense. That EK expressway is rotten. That wouldn't be a problem if it existed.
I grew up in the gorbals and the amount of propossed routes through the area was stupid. One had it going through Glasgow Green on an elevated section, then when everybody hit the roof somebody decided to to dig a tunnel under the green. Then somebody came up with the idea of running it along the clyde (My school got shut for the propossed route, it's still standing 40 years later, and is now a sports center). The next plan said it would be an elevated route along Caley Road, before being ditched for the final route. The whole thing was a farce, where a lot of people in the know, made a hell of a lot of money buy and selling land.
Are you going to do the A74M? There seem a few oddities even I've spotted....eg at J15, there is a mile gap between the Southbound off and on slips, and at the very southern end (J45 of the M6, the Northbound entry slip and Southbound exit slip roads exist - but aren't accessible, which is very strange!
Think it's supposed to be M73 as its on the line of the current A73 and that already has loads of areas that were originally planned to be motorway... but it never got done. They've only recently raised the railway bridge every double decker lorry would hit while trying to avoid the Raith interchange 😂
The bridge at Lesmahagow over the river Nethan sags slightly. The engineers apparently didn’t allow for the weight of the tarmac, etc when they put the steel in. Or so I was told when I worked on the 10 mile extension south from Blackwood in the mid 1980s. 5 miles of that stretch was built as continuous concrete pavement (no longer there) and cost £1m per mile. Couldn’t build a footpath for that now! It was really interesting to watch the train that laid the concrete in action. A very slick operation. Just a shame the carriageway made such a racket when you drove along it.
Nice work Jon. The ouror music reminds me that Taggart (there's bin a muuurdah) is available on the STV Streaming channel - rather fun to watch with dedicated Sots Ads.
Commuted past that abandoned building at j3 for 3 years and wondered what the heck it was, thanks for showing it up close. Looking forward to the M8..... planned as Scotland's only freeway with on and off ramps on the overtaking lanes, ghost slips, and of course the General Accident building.....👍👍
I think I can speak on behalf of all 91k subscribers to say that we are thoroughly looking forward to the third M6 video that will no doubt cover the access points from the Charnock Richard services and also the excellent junctions for Wigan and Parbold, Standish & Chorley. Or perhaps this is being saved for a 'summer special' like the Beano and Dandy had in days of yore? In any case, this was a fine video on the M74, and I hope you drank a pint of heavy at the end of a hard day's filming....
Jon did mention at the end of the previous video (M6 part 2) the rest would be saved for a later date, and he would be exploring another motorway in between
Hate Parbold slip rd as no cnt will let you onto the motorway. Wigan is Ok if taken slowly and the slip rd off the M6 is a pain for diks trying to force in the slow lane at the last second and try forcing you too fast for the curve.
@@willtricks9432 well I slept the night under a staircase at charnock Richard services (back in '87) Never hitch-hike with a 'Girlie' unless she's a 'Stunner' !
Yet another mint informative video about a road I regularly travel when visiting my mum. Keep up the great work Jon. The M74 extension was a welcome addition, as it means I can travel on dual carriageway from Ayr to York near enough all the way. (This will change when they dual more of the A66) Especially since they build the A/M77 ( which I worked on)
Nice video. I live near Glasgow. Every time I head South, I see a M6 sign on the slip road from the VOSA inspection place just south of Crawford. Always wondered why.
Brilliant, thank you! We're in the (Posh) Gorbals so this is our local motorway. We've been watching all your episodes because we're ancient and had jobs travelling a lot - I was a long distance motorbike courier in the 80s. To say we were excited when M74 popped up is an understatement. Now we're going to have to re-watch it lots and do some site visits. Thank you again.
The 'secret' slip road to the northbound M74 at Junction 12 was mainly used as an access point by the SAS (Scottish Ambulance Service - not the elite hush, hush, bang, bang Army unit) crews, stationed at Douglas responding to incidents north of Junction 12, saving a 16 mile round trip via Abington.
I’m sure the roadwork signs used to say “A74 upgrade to M6” or something like that… I drove the road often during that period, and did wonder relatively recently what happened with the name change.
Jon, there's a section on the A74(M), south of Abingdon, where there's a DVLA checkpoint. Look carefully as you go past, and you'll see, Southbound, the sign at the end of it says M6.
It’s not that bad really. It’s when people get impatient and block the roundabout for the now green lights because they were too impatient to wait 20 feet further back for another cycle of red lights
@@AutoShenanigans there is a good video on here somewhere of the Erskine bridge being built which could be mentioned. as well as the oil rig hitting it. Then there was the old toll booths at the end of the M898 which looked like reliant robins :P and umm they have done some rebuilding on the junction with the M8 yeah that one is gonna be hard
I always think of this as the M6 but with a big identity crisis. A bit like your unmarried uncle who has been M6 for most of his life but got to his mid forties and started getting a bit glam (A74M) then comes out as your new post-op Aunty M74, if you see what I mean.
I fricking love this motorway.. my memory of it is that is was a very crisp shiny new looking motorway. Then the second it becomes the M6 over the border it looks like an absolute dump lol
Ah yes, the A74 section that one basically fell off the M6 onto; dual-carriageway and one frick of a bottleneck. Straight from cruising at motorway speeds to having agricultural vehicles (usually Ford TWs with hyawge twin-axle trailers) popping out from the curly sliproadettes to run at 37mph. Despite being a closet greenie I did welcome the direct M6 to M74 transition when it happened to eventually be built, and the old road is now a scenic bucolic alternative to dicing with reps in S-line A4s and M-sport (yeah, course Gavin) 318i’s. Nice.
Have you done the M4 yet? Well at Skewen near Neath used to be the original M4 or known as the A48 before the M4 extended to Wales in the 1990s. The abandoned A48 at Skewen has now had housing built on it called Cae Morfa but it was built in the late 1950s/early 1960s called Neath Bypass and abandoned in 1994 when the M4 took over, the abandoned A48 had a service station called Briton Ferry Services which were abandoned in 1994 when the road closed.
How the M74 has changed since my 1st journey up that way in 1991, with no such thing as a Sat Nav, or mobile phone, going too and from Inverness. Spent 11 years on and off navigating the M80, M73, M74, and remember the roundabouts on what is now the M80.
The M80 is a complete patchwork of cobbled together bits and bobs. It probably took the best part of thirty years to complete. I drive all of these roads regularly, and used to be based in sunny Coatbridge, which was great for access to all of the major roads of the central belt. Now I'm based just off the A9 which I believe is finally going to be upgraded to full dual carriage way standard somewhere round the year 2099 (or just after the earth melts into the sun. One or the other, I'm not sure which).
Whilst it was totally my idea, the skilled execution and perfection was all down to @MatthewAnnissMusic Check out his channel for some excellent TV theme remakes.
The junctions on the M74 where reversed until the early 1980s( going north you joined at junction 1). Then they decided to extend south. When that happensd in 1986/87 they reversed the junction numbers. The Tory party's Scottish manifesto in 1987 promised a motorway link to England. So from 1990 the route was upgraded South and North. A section was built north.and opened in 1993 I think ( from memory). The completion scheme in 2011 joined this section to the M8&M77. So the existing M74 is the 1960s motorway, the 1980s extension south, the 1990s upgrade south to Gretna ( asM74& A74(M)) and the 1990s extension north, and finally the 2011 completion.
“Nothing gets through fences as well as local youths”
The amount of truth in this statement cannot be disputed 😂
Look at 3:00 and you'll see people on the bridge.
@@Michael75579 Even from that distance they look a bit neddy.
@@gloriagayer4761 Not everyone may know what a “ned “ is - I do !
@@ronniel5941for non-Scottish folk, a Ned is equivalent to a Chav or NEET
@@Michael75579😅
"Back in the day, when road-planners couldn't care less about anything.." It's quality writing like this that keeps us happy, Jon.
Glad to hear :)
Yeah, like the roundabout on the M77 heading into Ayr from the north. Hey, let's just add more lanes because we can. Who cares if a lane suddenly splits into three in the middle of the roundabout. 😅
Wait, hang on... A ghost slip road that got eventually used! 😮
Was about to post the same thing xD
So ghosts do exist.
Does that make it a "Zombie" slip road if it has reanimated?
Don't mean to sound heavy man, but what a comment on the society of today that for reanimation, we go straight to Zombies with nary a mention of Christian resurrection.
Yes, quite the rarity!
I hitched to Glasgow and beyond a couple of times in the early eighties, once we were picked up near Carlisle by a Scottish lorry driver who was an amature opera singer, his practice spot was from Gretna Green onwards whilst driving he sang in Italian a full hour then stopped at a services ate a huge dinner while we watched hungrily. Back on the road never said another word.
Still dropped us off in town, top man.
Thank you for sharing
😂 quality memory 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻
Hopefully the famous ski ramps will be covered with the M8 - now that's going to be a fun episode!
...and the Teletubbies horn!
He's going to have a field day describing J15-J19, which is a contender for the best example of the worst of British roadbuilding.
All part of the proposed Glasgow Inner Ring Road, which was planned at the time of building the M8 through Glasgow
@@drmal every time I drive past the horn I always day "Time for Tubbies bye bye"
@@TheCptES British or Scottish rd building ?🤷♂️
Loving the Taggart theme 😂 No Mean City
ah so it was the Taggart theme tune, i thought it was but wasn't 100% certain
DCI Burke looking at a deid roads planner and telling DS Reid that "there's been a murder". He always stated the obvious.
Theres been a murdur
Definitely the most random thing I have watched this week but well worth the time spent 😂
Thrilled to have you, thanks for watching
The m74 south of Abbington is an amazing bit of civil engineering, it goes over such harsh and wild terrain!
It's like a wild and woolly version of Outrun!!
I remember in the late 80s there was an M74 laboratory somewhere in the bit between the M6 and the M74 (proper) and I remember thinking "How hard could it be ?" !
@@interpolpirate I agree. It's stunning.
My grandad was involved in the construction of the original part aka the A74 in the late 50s/early 60s. He'd probably be amazed at what it looks like now since he unfortunately passed in 1988.
there's a really good old film on here from BTS (I think) which covers the building of it at the time.
The M74 extension, in my opinion, was much needed as it cut out the diversion onto the M8 through possibly its busiest section at Townhead. When I used to go up and down to Newcastle on a regular basis, it saved me about 30 minutes per journey.
My wife used to work for Strathclyde Council. The M74 extension used to be shelved and resurrected regularly for decades. It used to be said, only half jokingly, that half the civil engineers in Scotland got their charterships on the strength of designing motorway structures for it that were ultimately never built.
The M74 extension was a welcome addition, as it means I can travel on dual carriageway from Ayr to York near enough all the way. (This will change when they dual more of the A66) Especially since they build the A/M77 ( which I worked on)
Especially like the Scottish specific theme tune and it’s good to se that road planning/ construction up here is as abysmal the rest of the country 😂 and the Taggart theme must always be followed by “ There’s been a muurrder!”😂😂
There's been a murder!
Was that Taggart?
I thought it was pronounced "mudder".
"Call the Polis"!
@@yellowbird8690 You'd have to ask DC of F1 fame. His "muhruz" is without equal.
I'm surprised you missed the "M6 South" sign at the DVSA Weighstation (Southbound) exit between junctions 14 (Crawford) and 15 (Moffat) when you did the M6 bit.
42 miles from the actual M6. (visible on google street view)
@@roderickmain9697 M6 muliplex....
I was surprised he missed that as well. Also the M74 sign at Gretna Services rather than A74(M)
It’s on the A74(M) rather then the M74 so maybe it will get a mention when he does the Secrets of the A74(M).
Great to have an exciting episode on my local Motorway! Incidentally, everyone refers to the A74(M) section as the M74 - I don't know why they don't just change the name.
If you look on street view at the DVSA weight station near Biggar, you'll see an M6 South road sign on the exit road.
Great use of Taggart theme music for the Glasgow episode.
I can't believe you missed Treenis/Penis Hill near Abington services! It's a load of trees on the hill that look like a giant phallus!
Not just me that thinks that then.. I did notice it but couldn't find anything good to talk about. Other than it looks like a pen1s :D
Nice inclusion of the McTaggart sound track - "thurz bin a mareder".
Yes, DCI Burke liked to state the obvious.
You could do a full video on the B7076 and B7078, those are the remainder of the old A74 dual carriageway.
Its practically a motorway and almost abandoned, and theres plenty of completely abandoned parts of the old single carriageway Telford road.
Yes from Lesmahagow south you can see where they turned one side into a cyclepath
This was even more fun than the comic section of a 1980s Sunday Post!
I remember before jct 12 was amended for the A70 to go under it, previous to that the 74 and 70 were a crossroads and it was like whacky races getting across it 😱
I remember trying to get to Douglas was a bloody nightmare
Great to see some Scottish motorways covered.
Welcome to Scotland! Nice Taggart reference.
0:35 The motorway was under construction for 45 years, not over 50. That would mean that the M74 could have either been one of Britain's first (1961) or one of its most recent (2016) motorways!
You should do a video of the old A74 route lots of old dual carriageway sections still there , also a great driving road too.
Looking forward to the M8 even more now.
That'll probably have the theme tune to Rebus lol
@@stephenduncan3605 I thought that to, but it's pretty obscure (sorry Ian Rankin). The only others I could think of would be The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, or Trainspotting. Incidentally there's currently a film crewed based in Cameron Toll car park working on a new Rebus adaptation.
You missed the really twisty bit a bit further south (or maybe that's for the A74(M). Two of the best bends in the whole network!!!! And, if you're lucky, you can race a train along that valley...
I love racing that train 😂
Best views ever on that stretch, shame those bloody wind turbines are starting to ruin it though.
They motorway itself is probably more of a scar.
The amount of times I've driven up there wanting to "race" a train... I've never seen one!!
Watch oot for the traffic polis, the trains go a bit faster than the M74 speed limit 😎
Hell, you stole my thunder with the M6 bit and the extension into Scotland.
Another bit of M74 trivia you missed, originally it was numbered south to north, with Draffan being J1. When they started to build southwards it was reversed, with the Raith staying as J5. There also used to be a sliproad off the northbound A74 at Kirkmuirhill onto Strathaven Road. Great to see the old Draffan loop sliproad by drone, and there used to be a railway bridge over the A74 nearby
Back in the day, I spun my mk2 Ford Orion on the infamous loop at the Maryville Interchange...... never have I needed clean pants more! lol! The M74 extension was badly needed, as the Kingston Bridge just couldnt cope with traffic and Townhead was a bottleneck at the best of times. Removing a lot of traffic that was wanting to head south helped cut journey times by a fair chunk. I hope you enjoy your trip to Scotland - Im sure Ill spot you checking out the M898 :)
The sides of the approach embankment to the “temporary “ bridge at that loop were so steep that it had to be constructed of layers of lean concrete, designed by, er, me, and intended to be relatively easy to remove. Had reinforced earth technology been around at the time, it would probably have been used instead.
Jon I wanted to highlight that both the detail, and the delivery of information was superb! (were? was? Errr...)
Perhaps you could investigate why the M6 and A1(M) terminated at Greta and Newcastle respectively? Why it took until 2008 to connect Glasgow to the south with a motorway and why there is still no motorway south from Edinburgh to Newcastle?
"no motorway south from Edinburgh to Newcastle" That's because the English think that Glasgow is the capital of Scotland so ignore Edinburgh.
The relatively new dual stretches of the A1 have motorway rules, so perhaps the idea was that they could be re-designated motorways in future.
I think that is down to transport in Scotland being a devolved matter. Scotland's road system is financed, built and maintained by Transport Scotland under the direction of the Scottish parliament who set priorities which may be different to the English authorities.
If you drive along the A1 from Edinburgh to Newcastle, the terrain doesn't lend itself well to being a motorway. I think most of it is likely a funding issue as a result. Edinburgh has part of the A1 (about a 15 mile section) as an expressway, marked with 70mph signs (not national speed limit) and vans are permitted to go at 70mph and lorries at 60mph on this section, like a motorway; traffic types are also restricted the same as a motorway.
Through Berwickshire and near Dunbar, you'd struggle to follow the A1 route and would need to build the motorway another way and re-designate the existing A1 as a different A road.
Because the SNP dont want another connection to England 😂
@@David8n It'll be slightly more complicated than that but essentially you are right. If there was any attempt to upgrade the A1, It'll also be likely come down to trying to get Westminster to partially pay for the project as improving the A1 would benefit those travelling south to England as well as North to Scotland.
It's possible that that is why extending the M6 North from Carlisle to the border took so long to be built. The same situation is definitely partially responsible for it taking so long for the A8 to be upgraded to Dual carriageway in Northern Ireland.
Closing in on 100k subscribers John - wicked sweet awesome!
I used to drive down the M74/A74 to visit my brother in Dumfrieshire a lot and remember these extensions to the M74 being built
Me too, although I was a kid at the time. I remember them doing a bit about it going past Lesmahagow on Blue Peter.
The map of the proposed motorway at 5:42 has an error. that is the M8. the M77 would be the other direction. The a725 upgrade at Junction 5 is a massive improvement. traffic was a nightmare. It would be nice if there was a motorway here as it would link the M77 the m74 and m8 together bypassing Glasgow and all the roundabouts at East Kilbride. Would serve much of the south of glasgow as well as EK, Bellshill Coatbridge would be fastest route from Edinburgh to Ayrshire. Would just make sense and if you look on the map there is room to squeeze it in
Was just about to comment the same thing. However, they are currently upgrading Airbles Road in Motherwell and have installed a new bridge under the WCML to create a dual carriageway from junction 6 of the M74 up to Eurocentral on the M8.
Maryhill road in glasgow from city centre to canniesburn toll should have been a motorway and the start would have been the mysterious dead-end slip road that would have left from the off-side lane next to Stow College building! Can you imagine! So many houses would have been demolished in the process
Bollocks
Nice touch with the bagpipe version of the theme song
7:30 you totally missed the old motorway (dual carriageway) that runs parallel from junction 9/10 south. One side has been turned into a cyclepath the other a two way road in parts. If you look you can see it from the roundabout at tesco lesmahagow.
Just loved the use of the 'Taggert' theme at the end, very fitting!
Shock - a new theme.
The Scaryland version.
Absolutely shocking
The bagpipes make it.... Weirdly proggy sounding!
That’s the Christmas bagpipe version 😊
Very ..... Scottish 😊
5:41 The road on the right is the M8, not M77
Ha-ha-ha 😂 ending on the Taggart theme tune. Good one John
I regularly drive under the 74 at Draffen, we live about a mile away!
The map of all the possible planned motorways and trunk roads in Glasgow seems to be using a lot of old railway alinements. For example, the route to the west of Paisley that then curves around the south of the town to head towards Barrhead and Giffnock is an abandoned rail line. I used to play on it as a kid. The A road from the centre of Paisley heading east appears to be the canal line that was disused when I was a baby but reopened for passenger trains when I was a teenager.
Ooh, nice dronie at the end, one of your best yet!
The building lent itself well to the shot I think.
Taggart! ❤
Love it you're in my neck of the woods now. Junctions 5 & 6 for Hamilton...
Great video!
Although I’ve never driven on the M74, I have been driven on it, for a short distance where it splits at the M77/M8 today … was a long time ago and remember very little - so this video was like watching a Motorway I’ve never visited! Splendid!
Thanks!
Thanks a lot mate :)
Thanks
Nice one bruva, hope you are well.
@@AutoShenanigans All good this end my friend....and I hope you are too. Please keep up your funny and fascinating episodes. That 100k will soon come :-) 👋👋👍
I remember Blue Peter covering the M74 build because there was a new machine called a "road train" which built new road as it travelled along.
Great video John, it's always baffles me from the English border it's A74(M) and then M74 to Glasgow and why not from the M6 call it M74 all the way to Glasgow. I do remember going on this route being the A74 from the end of the M6 I was going fro Wrexham to Hamilton and Stirling in 1987 in a C reg Austin Meastro 1.6L it was a long drive.Thanks for the video I've enjoyed it. Take care mate
Don't know if is deliberate, or you were just feeling tired but I am appreciating the slightly slower delivery in this video, helps my small brain absorb the facts more easily. You don't need to gabble, you've plenty of good stuff to say. Thanks as always.
Totally agree about the A725 - it should link M8, M74 and M77 better than it does. Coming from the east, and not necessarily having to go through Glasgow (say heading down south, or down to Stranraer for the ferry) it would be a winner. Same for something better than the A701 from Abington to Edinburgh.
The road from Larkhall towards Ayr is the shortcut going to Stranraer. But aye the southern motorway on that pic should have definitely been built, even if it was to bypass a lot of traffic from going though Glasgow that would have made sense. That EK expressway is rotten. That wouldn't be a problem if it existed.
I used to work in Clydebridge steelworks in the early 70s. That shot of the rolling mill is so evocative of a lot of pics I shot inside the works.
Another fascinating video Jon, only really know the M74/A74M from Junction 13 heading south so nice to learn more about the Glasgow Bound section.
I grew up in the gorbals and the amount of propossed routes through the area was stupid.
One had it going through Glasgow Green on an elevated section, then when everybody hit the roof somebody decided to to dig a tunnel under the green.
Then somebody came up with the idea of running it along the clyde (My school got shut for the propossed route, it's still standing 40 years later, and is now a sports center).
The next plan said it would be an elevated route along Caley Road, before being ditched for the final route.
The whole thing was a farce, where a lot of people in the know, made a hell of a lot of money buy and selling land.
An excellent informative video as usual.
Are you going to do the A74M? There seem a few oddities even I've spotted....eg at J15, there is a mile gap between the Southbound off and on slips, and at the very southern end (J45 of the M6, the Northbound entry slip and Southbound exit slip roads exist - but aren't accessible, which is very strange!
Love that drone shot at the end. Fantastic.
Awesome video! Special intro music for Scotland - nicely done!
@5:43 You've got the M74 marked correctly but you marked the A8 as the M77. The M77 is on the southside of Glasgow.
Think it's supposed to be M73 as its on the line of the current A73 and that already has loads of areas that were originally planned to be motorway... but it never got done.
They've only recently raised the railway bridge every double decker lorry would hit while trying to avoid the Raith interchange 😂
Yeah messed that one up a bit.
Wicked, sweet, awesome!
Cheers mate
@@AutoShenanigans 👍🏻
That is the most convoluted set of motorway junctions ever.
The bridge at Lesmahagow over the river Nethan sags slightly. The engineers apparently didn’t allow for the weight of the tarmac, etc when they put the steel in. Or so I was told when I worked on the 10 mile extension south from Blackwood in the mid 1980s. 5 miles of that stretch was built as continuous concrete pavement (no longer there) and cost £1m per mile. Couldn’t build a footpath for that now! It was really interesting to watch the train that laid the concrete in action. A very slick operation. Just a shame the carriageway made such a racket when you drove along it.
I'm becoming dyslexic in anticipation for your video on the A47 Norwich Bypass. Alan.
Nice work Jon. The ouror music reminds me that Taggart (there's bin a muuurdah) is available on the STV Streaming channel - rather fun to watch with dedicated Sots Ads.
The bagpipe version of your theme song got me to like this video immediately!
Yesss, Jon is now in home country! Looking forward to the M8 and M9 episodes, you're gonna have a blast with those 🤣
The M898 the video could be shorter than the advert
Commuted past that abandoned building at j3 for 3 years and wondered what the heck it was, thanks for showing it up close. Looking forward to the M8..... planned as Scotland's only freeway with on and off ramps on the overtaking lanes, ghost slips, and of course the General Accident building.....👍👍
I think I can speak on behalf of all 91k subscribers to say that we are thoroughly looking forward to the third M6 video that will no doubt cover the access points from the Charnock Richard services and also the excellent junctions for Wigan and Parbold, Standish & Chorley. Or perhaps this is being saved for a 'summer special' like the Beano and Dandy had in days of yore? In any case, this was a fine video on the M74, and I hope you drank a pint of heavy at the end of a hard day's filming....
Or is he a Tennants light man ? 🤔
Jon did mention at the end of the previous video (M6 part 2) the rest would be saved for a later date, and he would be exploring another motorway in between
Spent 6 hours in Charnock Richard Services waiting for a lift. never been so happy to get into a strangers car.
Hate Parbold slip rd as no cnt will let you onto the motorway. Wigan is Ok if taken slowly and the slip rd off the M6 is a pain for diks trying to force in the slow lane at the last second and try forcing you too fast for the curve.
@@willtricks9432 well I slept the night under a staircase at charnock Richard services (back in '87) Never hitch-hike with a 'Girlie' unless she's a 'Stunner' !
The M74 makes no sense… especially with this A74 (M) nonsense from Abington to Gretna . Should just have been a continuation of the M6
Yet another mint informative video about a road I regularly travel when visiting my mum. Keep up the great work Jon. The M74 extension was a welcome addition, as it means I can travel on dual carriageway from Ayr to York near enough all the way. (This will change when they dual more of the A66) Especially since they build the A/M77 ( which I worked on)
Some bricked up those doors and windows in the tower at the end.
Nice video. I live near Glasgow. Every time I head South, I see a M6 sign on the slip road from the VOSA inspection place just south of Crawford. Always wondered why.
Sir might like the upcoming episode, out on Sunday....
91.9K Nearly there! Silver button being pressed as we speak.
Brilliant, thank you! We're in the (Posh) Gorbals so this is our local motorway. We've been watching all your episodes because we're ancient and had jobs travelling a lot - I was a long distance motorbike courier in the 80s.
To say we were excited when M74 popped up is an understatement. Now we're going to have to re-watch it lots and do some site visits.
Thank you again.
Nice drone shot of castle dangerous in Douglas at the end.
The 'secret' slip road to the northbound M74 at Junction 12 was mainly used as an access point by the SAS (Scottish Ambulance Service - not the elite hush, hush, bang, bang Army unit) crews, stationed at Douglas responding to incidents north of Junction 12, saving a 16 mile round trip via Abington.
I’ve been subbed to you since like 5k and wow has your channel taken off! Keep on rockin man, great content as always!
Thanks for sticking around.
Thank you.
Another great video and the ending shot was superb.
Love the Taggart theme at the end!
There are some excellent junctions on the M74 then! Great episode (as always).
Taggart theme tune…wicked sweet awesome😁👍
I’m sure the roadwork signs used to say “A74 upgrade to M6” or something like that… I drove the road often during that period, and did wonder relatively recently what happened with the name change.
I think politics blocked it.
Great that M6 motorway, especially the bit that runs from Carlisle to Glasgie.
No self respecting Scot would ever refer to my home city as "Glasgie." To us Weegie (Glaswegian) Natives, its "Gless-ca."
@@lorrainehamilton5051 Thankyou for the schooling!👍
excellent use of the MGS sound clip
Jon, there's a section on the A74(M), south of Abingdon, where there's a DVLA checkpoint. Look carefully as you go past, and you'll see, Southbound, the sign at the end of it says M6.
Good info mate, I'll keep an eye out for it, I was hoping to find a misprint somewhere!
Junction 5 is a bloody nightmare. I tend to avoid the M74 and use the M77 and A726 to travel to/from work
Meet someone from Lanarkshire. say the words "Raith Interchange" and observe the look of fear/confusion/anger on their face.
@@euanmoo I use to commute Blantyre to Edinburgh five days a week. I used to leave the house at 6:30am to avoid the worst of it. *Shudder*
@@euanmoo the Raith as its called on snyde1 😂
It’s not that bad really. It’s when people get impatient and block the roundabout for the now green lights because they were too impatient to wait 20 feet further back for another cycle of red lights
Also really looking forward to your take on the M876 motorway.. oh and I’ll be very disappointed if you don’t do a full episode on the M898 lol 😂
Yes I'm still undecided on what to do with the M898. It needs a video, but... yeah how crap will that be.
@@AutoShenanigans there is a good video on here somewhere of the Erskine bridge being built which could be mentioned. as well as the oil rig hitting it. Then there was the old toll booths at the end of the M898 which looked like reliant robins :P and umm they have done some rebuilding on the junction with the M8 yeah that one is gonna be hard
John, brilliant as ever buddy, I’m watching those subs gradually increasing. All the best mate!
It continues to go up so happy days for me and thanks for watching.
Nearly up to 100k subscribers! Great effort!
It's amazing and I never thought it would get this far. 100K video in the works :D
I always think of this as the M6 but with a big identity crisis. A bit like your unmarried uncle who has been M6 for most of his life but got to his mid forties and started getting a bit glam (A74M) then comes out as your new post-op Aunty M74, if you see what I mean.
Johhnnyy!!!!!!!! you crazy son of a b****!!!!! you did it again!!! GOOD STUFF!!!!!!
I fricking love this motorway.. my memory of it is that is was a very crisp shiny new looking motorway. Then the second it becomes the M6 over the border it looks like an absolute dump lol
Hope you go off topic and cover the remains of the A74 and all the different roads it has become.
Oooooh, new intro music! Excitement :)
Ah yes, the A74 section that one basically fell off the M6 onto; dual-carriageway and one frick of a bottleneck. Straight from cruising at motorway speeds to having agricultural vehicles (usually Ford TWs with hyawge twin-axle trailers) popping out from the curly sliproadettes to run at 37mph. Despite being a closet greenie I did welcome the direct M6 to M74 transition when it happened to eventually be built, and the old road is now a scenic bucolic alternative to dicing with reps in S-line A4s and M-sport (yeah, course Gavin) 318i’s. Nice.
Interesting you start the video at Polmadie Bridge(in the old Richmond Park), Oatlands district...next to the famous, or infamous, Gorbals!
Have you done the M4 yet?
Well at Skewen near Neath used to be the original M4 or known as the A48 before the M4 extended to Wales in the 1990s.
The abandoned A48 at Skewen has now had housing built on it called Cae Morfa but it was built in the late 1950s/early 1960s called Neath Bypass and abandoned in 1994 when the M4 took over, the abandoned A48 had a service station called Briton Ferry Services which were abandoned in 1994 when the road closed.
How the M74 has changed since my 1st journey up that way in 1991, with no such thing as a Sat Nav, or mobile phone, going too and from Inverness. Spent 11 years on and off navigating the M80, M73, M74, and remember the roundabouts on what is now the M80.
The M80 is a complete patchwork of cobbled together bits and bobs. It probably took the best part of thirty years to complete. I drive all of these roads regularly, and used to be based in sunny Coatbridge, which was great for access to all of the major roads of the central belt. Now I'm based just off the A9 which I believe is finally going to be upgraded to full dual carriage way standard somewhere round the year 2099 (or just after the earth melts into the sun. One or the other, I'm not sure which).
yes i had a good week ty !
That's what I'm talkin' about!
This week's opening theme, a true masterpiece! Enough to stir william wallace himself out of the grave.
Whilst it was totally my idea, the skilled execution and perfection was all down to @MatthewAnnissMusic Check out his channel for some excellent TV theme remakes.
The junctions on the M74 where reversed until the early 1980s( going north you joined at junction 1). Then they decided to extend south. When that happensd in 1986/87 they reversed the junction numbers. The Tory party's Scottish manifesto in 1987 promised a motorway link to England. So from 1990 the route was upgraded
South and North. A section was built north.and opened in 1993 I think ( from memory). The completion scheme in 2011 joined this section to the M8&M77. So the existing M74 is the 1960s motorway, the 1980s extension south, the 1990s upgrade south to Gretna ( asM74& A74(M)) and the 1990s extension north, and finally the 2011 completion.