The A726 road in Scotland is a major route with several distinct sections with different characteristics and names; owing to its stages of construction, since 2005 it has two separate parts, the first running between Strathaven in South Lanarkshire and Junction 5 of the M77 motorway south of Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire via East Kilbride, and the other running between Junction 3 of the M77 and the M898 motorway near the Erskine Bridge, via Paisley and Junction 29 of the M8 motorway near Glasgow International Airport.
Route
Strathaven and East Kilbride
The A726's first section begins in the small market town of Strathaven in South Lanarkshire as Glasgow Road, taking over from the A723, a short section of which connects to the primary route into the town, the A71, itself about west of Junction 8 of the M74 motorway via Stonehouse. While the A723 heads north-east towards Hamilton, the A726 goes north-west through open farmland, passing the small village of Chapelton towards the large town of East Kilbride – in 2014 the entire road was quoted as being one of the most dangerous in the world owing to the number of accidents on it, and many of these incidents would originate from this single carriageway section which has a wide variety of traffic types, several tight bends and an open, elevated setting which is liable to be affected by poor weather conditions.
On entering East Kilbride, the road becomes Strathaven Road, and remains single-carriageway up to the Torrance Roundabout at Crutherland near Calderglen Country Park. It stayed as such for a further north until a £23 million project was undertaken in 2019 to convert this to dual carriageway, along with the unclassified Greenhills Road leading from the Torrance Roundabout's other exit, which had become increasingly busy and important as a route for residents living in the south of the town with the expansion of Lindsayfield in addition to the older Whitehills and Greenhills neighbourhoods. The project had fallen behind schedule by late 2021 and this section of the road was closed for an intended two-week period to expedite matters, but then re-opened early amid complaints from residents living on local rural roads that had seen a huge increase in traffic as a result of the closure.
The direction then becomes north-westerly, with a graded exit for the Kelvin Industrial Estate, the St Leonards neighbourhood and South Lanarkshire College, followed by a roundabout at Birniehill, meeting the southern end of the A725 which runs through the north of the town, to Junction 5 of the M74 via Blantyre, South Lanarkshire and eventually to Junction 7A of the M8 motorway via Bellshill.
The A726 at this point becomes the 'Queensway', the main east–west road through the planned town of the 1950s. It continues westwards, soon meeting a roundabout identical to the last in design (featuring underpasses for pedestrians and cyclists at each corner and a sunken landscaped area at its centre), with exits for the eastern ends of East Kilbride's town centre (mainly consisting of a series of connected indoor shopping precincts) and Murray residential neighbourhood, then a third roundabout for the western ends of these districts, plus eastern parts of Westwood, West Mains. A straight and interrupted stretch of nearly follows, before a pair of roundabouts offer exits for Hairmyres Hospital and western parts of Westwood (B764), and for College Milton Industrial Estate and western parts of West Mains (B761). This leads on to another stretch featuring only one minor junction in either direction which do not allow cross-carriageway movement, until reaching the Philipshill Roundabout at Peel Park. Here the A726 designation switches to the southbound exit of the roundabout, named as Redwood Road and the start of the Glasgow Southern Orbital Route, completed in 2005. The road from East Kilbride continues westwards towards Busby via an overpass, but was renamed as the A727 from the time of the Southern Orbital being completed.