A74 road: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The A74 is a major trunk road in the United Kingdom which has largely been replaced by a motorway. It links Glasgow in Scotland to Carlisle in the North West of England.

From the late 1960s onward, the A74 has undergone a process of gradual conversion to motorway standard (known as the M74. The original section of the M74 ran from Uddingston in the south eastern outskirts of Glasgow to Motherwell in the Clyde Valley. The motorway section now extends to Gretna at the Anglo-Scottish border.

Small remnants of the original A74 remain in the south eastern suburbs of Glasgow, and a 6 mile dual-carriageway section remains between Gretna and the beginning of the M6 at Carlisle. The B7076 and B7078 which serve the small villages and towns along the M74 are in fact stretches of the original A74.