Trunk A-road

A74 traffic and collisions

The A74 is a trunk A-road of 7.8 miles, from North Lanarkshire to Glasgow City. This page covers its traffic at 11 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
11 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 32m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 11,237 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 22,641 M74 / M73 to M74 jn3
  • HGV share 3.3% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −6.1% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 44 28.4 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A74?

On an average day in 2025, 11,237 vehicles passed each point on the A74, counting both directions. The busiest section is M74 / M73 to M74 jn3 (North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City), with 22,641 a day; the quietest listed is B7058 Mount Vernon Avenue to A763, with 6,098.

Busiest sections, 2025

M74 / M73 to M74 jn3 carries 2.0 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A74 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
M74 / M73 to M74 jn3 North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.6% 22,641
A752 to B7001 Old Edinburgh Rd North Lanarkshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.7% 17,939
Fullarton Road roundabout to B763 Dunn Street Glasgow City · 1.8 mi · HGVs 3.5% 11,594
A763 to Fullarton Road roundabout Glasgow City · 0.5 mi · HGVs 2.1% 9,973
M74 to B7058 Mount Vernon Avenue Glasgow City · 1.0 mi · HGVs 6.5% 9,545
Junction A74 (Arcadia Road) / A749 to Junction A74/A8 Glasgow City · 0.8 mi · HGVs 1.2% 9,101
Junction A74/A728 to Junction A749 (London Road) /A74 Glasgow City · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.3% 6,132
B7058 Mount Vernon Avenue to A763 Glasgow City · 1.1 mi · HGVs 4.3% 6,098

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

North Lanarkshire to Glasgow City · 7.8 miles

North Lanarkshire Glasgow City
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A74 traffic and collisions by section

10 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.

Sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A74 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A752 to B7001 Old Edinburgh RdNorth Lanarkshire0.617,9392.7%−13.0%fewer than 3
2B7001 Old Edinburgh Rd to M73 / M74North Lanarkshire0.319,0152.7%−13.1%fewer than 3
3M74 / M73 to M74 jn3North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City0.622,6413.6%−0.5%fewer than 3
4M74 to B7058 Mount Vernon AvenueGlasgow City1.09,5456.5%−5.8%fewer than 3
5B7058 Mount Vernon Avenue to A763Glasgow City1.16,0984.3%−3.7%5
6A763 to Fullarton Road roundaboutGlasgow City0.59,9732.1%−4.7%6
7Fullarton Road roundabout to B763 Dunn StreetGlasgow City1.811,5943.5%−4.9%1232.5
8Junction A74/A728 to Junction A749 (London Road) /A74Glasgow City0.96,1321.3%7
9Junction A749 (London Road) /A74 to Junction A74 (Arcadia Road) / A749Glasgow City0.213,4391.2%0
10Junction A74 (Arcadia Road) / A749 to Junction A74/A8Glasgow City0.89,1011.2%8

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A74 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.

A74 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 80.0% of the vehicle miles on the A74. HGVs account for 3.3%, rising to 6.5% on M74 to B7058 Mount Vernon Avenue.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A74, by year
Year HGV share
2000 18.3%
2001 21.0%
2002 19.5%
2003 18.8%
2004 19.5%
2005 19.7%
2006 19.3%
2007 22.0%
2008 19.3%
2009 18.2%
2010 6.0%
2011 4.6%
2012 4.7%
2013 4.5%
2014 4.4%
2015 4.4%
2016 4.4%
2017 4.3%
2018 3.9%
2019 3.6%
2020 4.1%
2021 3.8%
2022 3.6%
2023 3.4%
2024 3.3%
2025 3.3%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A74 traffic trend

Traffic on the A74 came to 32 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 6.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.6% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 1.5% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A74 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 165m
2001 149m
2002 162m
2003 161m
2004 160m
2005 154m
2006 157m
2007 157m
2008 174m
2009 83m
2010 33m
2011 29m
2012 28m
2013 28m
2014 29m
2015 24m
2016 25m
2017 27m
2018 28m
2019 33m
2020 25m
2021 29m
2022 31m
2023 31m
2024 32m
2025 32m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A74, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 25,740
2001 23,244
2002 25,140
2003 24,995
2004 24,882
2005 23,894
2006 24,371
2007 24,393
2008 27,113
2009 19,256
2010 13,845
2011 12,214
2012 11,901
2013 11,837
2014 12,216
2015 10,197
2016 10,453
2017 10,987
2018 10,851
2019 11,914
2020 9,098
2021 10,104
2022 10,908
2023 11,020
2024 11,180
2025 11,237

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (75.6% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 0 of the 11 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A74 collisions

Police recorded 44 collisions with the A74 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 14 of them fatal or serious. That is 28.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.1 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

About the same in 2025 as in 2021.

Police-reported collisions on the A74 by year
Year Collisions
2021 8
2022 10
2023 11
2024 7
2025 8

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

Sections with the highest collision rates

Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.

Collisions per 100 million vehicle miles by section of the A74, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
Fullarton Road roundabout to B763 Dunn Street Glasgow City · 12 collisions 32.5

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 14 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A74 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A74

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • North Lanarkshire
  • Glasgow City

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Traffic counts and vehicle mix Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2000 to 2025 11 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 44 reported collisions 15 September 2026
  • Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
  • Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
  • Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
  • STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
  • Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
  • Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.