Severe disruption on the main highway into Hamilton could cause headaches for travelling United fans this Sunday.
The Tangerines travel to South Lanarkshire this weekend to play the return-leg of the Premiership play-off final, after a “frustrating” nil-nil draw at Tannadice on Thursday evening.
United fans have snapped-up all of the allocated away tickets for the game at the Superseal stadium, with hundreds of supporters queuing from 8am on Wednesday to collect the gold-dust briefs.
The large contingent of traveling Arabs will find themselves confronted with a number of road closures on Sunday, as well as potential bank holiday congestion on Scotland’s busiest roads.
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Hamilton FC have also advised visitors to New Douglas park will be subject to stricter security checks prior to kick-off, as a result of Monday’s terrorist attack in Manchester, and advise supporters should arrive in plenty time beforehand.
The relegation-threatened club have also banned both sets of supporters from bringing flags into the ground on safety grounds, and will open turnstile gates at 1.45pm to allow time for security checks.
One of the main arterial carriageways, the M73, will be closed to all traffic on Sunday southbound from junction 2 Baillieston to junction 1 Maryville.
Traffic to Hamilton will be diverted on to the M8 eastbound to Chapelhall before returning on to the M8 westbound to A725 south, to M74 junction 5 at the Raith interchange.
Travelling supporters are being advised to journey via the Forth Road bridge on the A90/M90, before making their way across the central belt via the M8.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “There are currently major roadworks within the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project area.
“Football traffic heading for the Hamilton v Dundee United match this Sunday should consider travelling via the A90/M90 Forth Road Bridge and M8.
“Traffic management is changing regularly and we would recommend people check the Traffic Scotland website, twitter feed and local radio travel bulletins before travelling.”
As a thank you to fans, club chairman Stephen Thompson has put on six coaches free-of-charge to New Douglas park.
There will be 420 seats available for supporters who purchased tickets for the game on Wednesday, on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Supporters have also been told they will be able to use the GA arena car park free of charge, as a park and ride facility on the day.
