A77 Road

The A77 road is a major road in Scotland. It runs in a southwesternly direction from the city of Glasgow, past the towns of Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Kilmarnock, Prestwick, Ayr, Maybole, Girvan and Stranraer to the town of Portpatrick on the Irish Sea. It passes through the council areas of Glasgow City, East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

It has full trunk road status from the terminus of the M77 motorway in Fenwick to the junction with the A75 in Stranraer.

The A77 is a crucial link from Glasgow to one of its two major airports, Prestwick Airport, and to the three main ferry terminals at Stranraer, Cairnryan, and Troon for sailings to Northern Ireland. As a result, the road has been subject to a busy mixture of commuter, tourist and heavy goods vehicle traffic which has hastened upgrades to many sections.

Bypasses for Ayr and Kilmarnock were built in the 1970s, and the M77 motorway replaced the Glasgow to Newton Mearns section in two stages, in the mid-to-late 1990s, but not without controversy as a section for the motorway sliced through Pollok Country Park.

This still left, for many years, the notorious East Ayrshire stretch of the road. The majority of this section was an unsegregated, 4-lane single carriageway between Kilmarnock and Newton Mearns - widely appearing in statistics as one of the most dangerous and accident-prone sections of road in Scotland. The lanes were narrower by the standards of major roads. At several points, it was common for traffic waiting to turn right to queue in the fast lane. The speed limit of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) was widely ignored, resulting in a number of fatal crashes. Finally, the road narrowed to only two lanes near Newton Mearns, causing long queues. The Scottish Executive took the decision to replace the entire section up to the Kilmarnock bypass with an extension of the M77 after pressure and campaigning from West Sound Radio.

Construction of the motorway was unusually swift, given the eagerness to replace the A77 after another fatal crash in 2003 claiming the life of an off duty, top-ranking police officer, and the motorway was opened in April 2005. This completed a continuous dual carriageway road from Glasgow to Ayr.

In an effort to prevent a repeat of the fatalities on the southern section of the road. July 2005 saw the A77 become host to the largest automatic speed limit enforcement system in the whole of the UK. Based on the digital SPECS system rather than the traditional fixed post GATSO film cameras; gantries with automatic numberplate recognition cameras are sited on the road at intervals of between 1 and 5 miles (8.0 km) and measure the average speed of traffic. The enforced zone stretches from the Bogend Toll Junction (Dundonald/Tarbolton junction) at the northern end on the Dual carriageway section where the junctions are not grade separated, down to just north of Lendalfoot; a distance of around 30 miles (48 km).

From 10 March 2008 a long term temporary 50 mph (80 km/h) limit to Dutch House Roundabout was introduced, following the death of another police officer, Constable Kevin Lowe. Constable Lowe was on duty and en route (at approximately 120 mph (190 km/h)) to a call at the time. This speed limit is to remain in force until new GSJs are opened in 2011.

There have been continued efforts to improve the road in the south. One such project, the Turnberry Climbing Lane, opened in 2005, has enhanced guaranteed overtaking opportunities on the single carriageway section. The latest improvement opened in Autumn 2006, the upgraded Whitletts roundabout, traffic lights and spiral lanes. Climbing lanes are currently being constructed at the foot and top of Glenapp.

The A77 was formerly part of the Euroroute system, and comprised route E111.