Overview

The A720 or Edinburgh City Bypass is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland. Circling around the south of Edinburgh, as the equivalent of a ring road for the coastal city, the road links the major route to north-east England, the A1, the identical route for north-west England, the A702, the crucial route to Glasgow, the M8, and the A8 leading to the M9 for Stirling and the Forth Road Bridge.

The road is dual carriageway standard throughout, including emergency laybys and hard shoulders in areas.

Junctions

The A720 starts at the Old Craighall junction in the east where it meets the A1, from which traffic can approach Edinburgh city centre from the east, or run through Musselburgh and Haddington on the way to England.

This is immediately followed by the Sherriffhall Junction, the most notorious junction on the bypass. Whereas all the other junctions on the bypass are grade separated, the Sherriffhall location was deemed unsuitable for a flyover due to extensive mine workings underneath. The junction is hence a simple roundabout and the evident traffic problems of forcing all through A720 traffic to halt is evident, worsened by the importance of the roads which intersect here - the A7 which leads north to the city centre and south to Carlisle, the A68 which is a crucial route for traffic to south-east Scotland, and a minor A-road, the A6106. Traffic jams are common at most times of day.

Gilmerton Junction (for the A772, former A7) follows, with Lasswade Junction hot on its heels.

Straiton Junction (A701) is an important junction for the southern suburbs. It is immediately followd by Hillend Junction for the A702, the major route to western England, via Abington and the A74(M).

After a minor junction near the A70, traffic density again increases at the crucial Hermiston Junction. The junction comprises an underpass for a roundabout serving the main route to Edinburgh from the west (A71), and an overpass for one serving the massively busy M8 to Glasgow. The sliproads to and from these junctions are linked, and tied in with the major Hermiston Gait shopping centre, resulting in a tangle of curves and carriageways which is at one point twelve lanes wide.

Finally the road swings north to finish on the A8 at Gogar Junction. From there, traffic can proceed into Edinburgh City Centre by an alternative route to the A71, or can head west out to Edinburgh Airport and the M9 for Stirling, with connecting roads leading to all places north.