Garrion Bridge

Infobox UK place
country= Scotland
official_name= Garrion Bridge
population=
os_grid_reference= NS795555
map_type= Scotland
latitude= 55.773992
longitude= -3.918915
unitary_scotland= North Lanarkshire
lieutenancy_scotland= Lanarkshire
Traditional= Lanarkshire
constituency_westminster= Motherwell and Wishaw
constituency_scottish_parliament= Motherwell and Wishaw
Central Scotland
post_town= WISHAW
postcode_area= ML
postcode_district= ML2
dial_code= 01698

Garrion Bridge is a small hamlet in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the banks of the Clyde Valley, 18 miles south-east of Glasgow.

The hamlet is most commonly associated with the nearby town of Wishaw, with which it shares a councillor.

Development

The hamlet has grown around a main river crossing for the River Clyde in Lanarkshire. The area spans both sides of the river, with some of the houses actually located in South Lanarkshire.

There are no more than a dozen houses located around the bridge, though there are a few businesses, such as two independent garden centres and a recently closed Banana ripery operated by Fyffes.

Transport Links

The area is obviously still dominated by the river crossing, which is still the most important bridge over the Clyde for several miles in either direction.

The original bridge, constructed in 1817 and still in use, was supplemented in 2002 by a new bridge slightly upstream, creating for the first time a bi-directional flow of traffic over the river in the form of a roundabout. [http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2002/01/1020]

The area was previously a notorious traffic bottleneck, with an acute crossroads formed by the junctions of the A71 and A72. As the original (1817) bridge was single lane, the traffic was signal controlled with only one direction able to cross the bridge at any one time. This led to huge delays, also in part due to the meeting of the A71 from the West and the A72 from the North having a very acute angle with no turning restrictions, which often led to large vehicles becoming stuck.

This was rectified by moving the intersection of the Northern A72 and Western A71 almost 0.5 miles up the valley side to a new roundabout, and removing the original alignment of the A72. This work was carried out at the same time of the construction of the new bridge in 2001.

There is some public transport in the area, with a regular bus service provided by First Glasgow operating between Larkhall and Motherwell and a more sporadic local authority supported service between Hamilton and Carluke.

hopping

Other than the aforemention Garden Centres, there are no retail facilities in the area. Residents must travel into the nearby towns of Wishaw or Larkhall or to the next nearest village of Crossford.