The M8

[Be_Happy]

The M8 runs west from the west side of Edinburgh, where it interconnects with the Edinburgh City Bypass. It connects with the M9 a few miles west of the city, before passing Livingston, Bathgate, Airdrie, and Coatbridge. East of Glasgow it meets the M73 and M74 at the Ballieston Interchange. It then heads westward through the northern suburbs of Glasgow before turning south and crossing the River Clyde on the Kingston Bridge, the busiest motorway river crossing in Europe. South of the river the M8 intersects with the M77 and turns west again, passing Renfrew, Paisley and Glasgow Airport terminating to the east of Langbank across the Clyde from Dumbarton.

The M8 was largely completed by 1970. Together with the as-yet unbuilt extension to the M74, the M8 forms two sides of an uncompleted ring road around Glasgow city centre. The northern extension of the M74 to just south of the Kingston Bridge should alleviate some of the congestion problems, but this is not planned to be completed until 2008.

The Central Glasgow section of the M8 was the one of the first motorways in the UK to feature the advanced CITRAC (Centrally Integrated TRAffic Control) system. A network of CCTV cameras around the motorway and its primary feeder routes is linked to a central Police control room, who can use it to identify problems and activate the system of overhead lane signals above the motorway. It is linked to the NADICS system.

The perfectly straight section of motorway between Junctions 26 and 27 in Renfrewshire was originally the runway of the former Renfrew Airport, which closed in 1966, following the opening of Glasgow International Airport a few miles further west. Hillington Industrial Estate, which looks on to this section of the M8 and still includes the Rolls Royce plant, originally started its life as the aircraft engineering facility within the airport complex.

In the aftermath of the M8's completion, the UK Government declared that it would be the last motorway to be built through a UK city.

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The Kingston Bridge is a road bridge crossing the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The bridge carries the M8 motorway through the city centre. The Kingston Bridge is the busiest road bridge in Europe, carrying over 150,000 vehicles every day.

The bridge connects Anderston and the city centre at Junction 18/19 with Tradeston and the Gorbals at junction 20. The bridge is notionally five lanes each way, however, approaches to the bridge are not only littered with junctions of their own, including major city centre links and the M77, but are only two lanes wide.

When opened in 1969, the bridge was designed to handle only 20,000 vehicles a day. By 1990, the sheer volume and weight of traffic, combined with poor design, resulted in serious structural deterioration being discovered in the bridge. A decade-long repair and renovation programme was initiated to repair and strengthen the bridge. These repairs have involved raising the bridge, while still operational, to allow the construction of new supports, before lowering the bridge onto strengthened supports.

The ongoing works, combined with the design of the approach roads, causes traffic chaos at most times of day and is part of the reason the M8 has gained its reputation as one of the poorest designed motorways in the UK.

The long-term solution to the problem is the M74 completion project, to act as the southern flank of the unbuilt Glasgow Inner Ring Road. The existing "ski ramp" where the Inner Ring should have continued will remain unused; the M74 will meet the M8 a few hundred yards further south.

[Sir Miles Platting]

Well Be_Happy, that would have been a nice ride along the M8 if it weren't so foggy. Didnae see a thing.....

I'll be on it travelling westbound from the M74 to exit S. at jct 27 to visit rellos in Paisley. (next thurs. july 14) Will I likely run into roadworks?

Can anyone on the Glasgow forum give me a review on the Watermill Hotel in Paisley? Any good (quiet) pubs nearby?

[The Boy David]

Ah the M8 - a fine construct - I never tire of its traffic-jams......

One of those pictures of the M8-M77 junction is quite a beast - I forget that there are a whole 12 lanes (plus some sliproads) running side by side there - L.A: eat your heart out, hahaha.

Sir Miles Platting, I have no idea about road works, and I would think very carefully about going to a pub in Paisely... lol.

Im afraid I dont know Paisley well, maybe someone else here could help..

[Boards]

The M8s fascinated me since I was a child its an amazing structure. What do you guys think it would cost to build today taking into account the Kingston Bridge, St James viaduct and the miles of connecting roads built onto it?

[The Boy David]

Welcome to the forums, Boards!

God I would dread to think how much it would cost. To be fair though, I dont even know how much it cost to build in the first place.

My guess is that just for the Glasgow part of the M8 (say from all those fly-overs at Easterhouse to Glasgow Airport), the cost would run to roughly £5-6 billion?

Something like that, maybe, but Im really not sure.

[Boards]

Thanks for the welcome! I've been visiting this site for nearly two years god knows why I never joined earlier. Obviously love Elphinstone but am worried at how far ahead of us Manchester and Birmingham are getting, read the Liverpool thread the other day and in terms of proposed high-rises looks like they're creaming us aswell! Would love to see six or seven 130m+ buildings go up but I dont think its going to happen. Also worried about the Granton and Leith proposals as they look really world class and look like theyre going to take Edinburgh to a new level ( not to mention the god damn airport bullshit! ). Any news on the Hunterston proposals? Oh and anyone fancy widening the Forth and Clyde canal so that it can take ocean going vessels from Europe to the US! That and one giant airport between Glasgow and Edinburgh - now that would really get Central Scotland back on the map.

[resistme]

The M8 pics are fab - still can't believe all the bridges to no-where. Also amazed the M74 extention to the M8 doesn't utilise the M8 J20 skiramps at West Street which have always looked bizzare. What this intentional not to use or modify these to allow access to the Kingston Bridge.

Also, are they ever going to build M77 to M8 Westbound link (rather than having to leave the M77 at Junction 21, and rejoin at the next M8 junction?

[Pobbie]

I love motorways and I'd love to travel on the M8, a true urban motorway.

[The Boy David]

The M8 is a true piece of urban motorway - i mean 16 lanes of traffic is huge, and Im sure dwarfs any other motorway in the UK at least. Its one of the busiest roads in Europe for a reason, I suppose.

Its a shame a great deal of its design is inherently flawed.

But with light traffic, its a pleasure to drive as it cuts right through the heart of the city, and over the Kingston bridge (that bit is better the other way round, cos you get to see the city from atop the bridge). The 16 lane M8-M77 interchange is nuts, though, and it'll get even busier when they connect the last part of the M74 to it aswell.

Three motorways leading into one!

It'll be interesting to see how that one works....


That website is good stuff though - some great pictures of it at its best (and worst)

[Pobbie]

It's good that Glasgow didn't suffer the same fate as Liverpool, which had so many good motorway plans scrapped by bumbling idiots.

You'll notice the M62 in Liverpool starts at Junction 4, because they couldn't be arsed building it all the way in (they're actually trying to redo it all at the moment, but there is now the curse of neighbourhood nimbyism to contend with ). Then there's the M57, which stops at the junction with the M58 instead of going all the way to Southport. The result is Switch Island, which I love in a nostalgic way but for drivers is a complete and utter mess. Nearby is (or rather isn't) Junction 2 of the M58, which was originally intended as a link road to Preston (M59) but (surprise surprise) never happened. As a result, the M58 skips from Junction 1 to Junction 3. And I won't even start on the M53...

Glasgow on the other hand seems a fine example of a city truly at harmony with its motorways. And who knows, if the M74/A74 link between Glasgow and Carlisle is upgraded (there are current thoughts of renaming it as an extension of the M6), then Liverpool and Glasgow will become closer together.

[The Boy David]

Originally Posted by Pobbie Rarr

It's good that Glasgow didn't suffer the same fate as Liverpool, which had so many good motorway plans scrapped by bumbling idiots.

You'll notice the M62 in Liverpool starts at Junction 4, because they couldn't be arsed building it all the way in (they're actually trying to redo it all at the moment, but there is now the curse of neighbourhood nimbyism to contend with ). Then there's the M57, which stops at the junction with the M58 instead of going all the way to Southport. The result is Switch Island, which I love in a nostalgic way but for drivers is a complete and utter mess. Nearby is (or rather isn't) Junction 2 of the M58, which was originally intended as a link road to Preston (M59) but (surprise surprise) never happened. As a result, the M58 skips from Junction 1 to Junction 3. And I won't even start on the M53...

Glasgow on the other hand seems a fine example of a city truly at harmony with its motorways. And who knows, if the M74/A74 link between Glasgow and Carlisle is upgraded (there are current thoughts of renaming it as an extension of the M6), then Liverpool and Glasgow will become closer together.

Lol you cant help but laugh at the mess that has been made there. I had no idea that the motorway network around Liverpool was so, for lack of a better word, dysfunctional.

I hope that the M74/A74 is properly finished off the way that it deserves to be - 3 top class cities like Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester should have been connected properly years ago, it defies belief that some of our motorway network is still so lacking...


Anyway, I hope you get a chance to get a shot on the M8 - just make sure its not in the rush hour, because no matter how many lanes its got, the bloody thing will never run smoothly....

Maybe you should wait til Elphinstone Place is built, then you'll get this cracking view just as you enter the city... (Elmbank Tower isnt included in this, by the way, it will be a 107.5m tower that will sit slighty back and to the left of Elphinstone)

[maccoinnich]

I can't believe how enthusiastic everybody is about the M8. Urban motorways are awful. Generally people tend to remember successful revolts against motorways or freeways. Even in the US, Land of the Car™ people have been sensible enough to reject many misguided plans. New York rejected the Lower Manhattan Expressway planned by Robert Moses and campaigned against by Jane Jacobs. San Francisco had the Freeway Revolt, which stopped awful plans to cover the city in freeways and destroy whole neighbourhoods and part of Golden Gate Park. The smartest thing Portland, Oregon ever did was to get rid of Habor Drive on the river front and replace it with a very nice park. Boston realised it's freeway was such a problem that it buried it underground.

Glasgow, evidently, is still learning. M74 extension anyone? Thank God they never completed the original 60s plans.

[Martin G]

The M8 is definitely the most terrifying motorway in the whole of the UK - just look at it on any road map that shows the detail of the many junction layouts and you would be forgiven for thinking you'd need a degree just to navigate the unrivalled complexity of it. There really is no other motorway like it in Britain - and this is probably simultaneously a blessing and a curse. God only knows what most seasoned Glaswegian veterans make of it however....

The fact that something like almost TWENTY motorway junctions are crammed into a short 12 mile stretch of the M8 speaks volumes about the sheer complexity of the engineering going on here. This must make the M8 a nightmare to drive along cos of the number of weaving movements from BOTH SIDES as traffic joins from the huge number of sliproads (many unusual junction layouts where diverging traffic exits / joins to the right as opposed to the left). The motorway indeed resembles the tangle of freeways in cities like LA for example, but it's almost unique in the UK - even Manchester, with its vast network of THIRTEEN motorways and very closely spaced junctions overall cannot compete with the convoluted madness of the M8 stretch between Junctions 12 and 25. And what is crazier - they're still adding extra new "A" junctions in between the existing ones to serve shopping centres, industrial estates, etc, and rebuilding slip roads and re-designing/reconstructing junction layouts all over the place. I know that 20 years ago they had to completely rebuild the Townhead interchange (Junc 15) just above the cathedral and now it looks even more complex and braided than it originally did. Because of the sheer number of junctions isn't a significant stretch of this road regarded as an "Urban Motorway" with a 50 mph speed restriction (like with the A57(M) Mancunian Way, the A167(M) Newcastle Inner motorway and the A38(M) Aston Expressway?

The stupendously huge M8/M77 Junction (22) is almost comparable to the Worsley Braided Interchange west of Manchester where the M60 meets the M61 and has almost as many parallel lanes of traffic at one point (16 compared to Worsley's 17) - so the latter just has the edge over the Glasgow equivalent!

It's clear that Glasgow loves its motorways - that's why it just keeps on building and extending and adding to them - but whither the proposals for the M80 to continue from the current temporary terminus north of Stepps? And when will the Baillieston to Newhouse upgrade of the A8 to motorway standard actually happen?

[gleegie]

I used to think like that maccoinnich but I'm really warming to the M8. It really gives Glasgow an edge. Problems or no it really helps travel through the city. It's what you make of it, the M8 is here to stay so we have to make the best of it. It's the perfect foil for skyscrapers, even now turning off into Bothwell street is impressive as you come past Abbey national, Aurora up to Central station. Imagione it in a few years!

The new lighting strategy really brings the Kingston bridge to life at night and adds real drama to the Clyde. As the banks are redensified it'll be enhanced further. I think the urban damage to Glasgow of the motorway is overplayed, it curves round the city for the most part utilising old canal lines. Only the short Charing Cross stretch was a major casualty and this has only served to open it up for development now. The real damage was done by Comprehensive redevelopment, which gave us no benefit.

The M74 extension isgreat in principle but disastrously executed I agree. Elevated sections are the one major no no.

[resistme]

Originally Posted by Martin G

The stupendously huge M8/M77 Junction (22) is almost comparable to the Worsley Braided Interchange west of Manchester where the M60 meets the M61 and has almost as many parallel lanes of traffic at one point (16 compared to Worsley's 17) - so the latter just has the edge over the Glasgow equivalent!

On my trip up to Scotland on Saturday I had to take a look at the try and peek at the 17 lane Worseley M61/M60 junction. It MAY have 17 lanes, except I couldn't SEE them when I drove through it coming from Leeds on Saturday. The multiple central reservations are built up so you don't get the scale or view of all the carriageway. Shame really.

So I still prefer the M8/M77 junction!

[Pobbie]

Originally Posted by The Boy David

Lol you cant help but laugh at the mess that has been made there. I had no idea that the motorway network around Liverpool was so, for lack of a better word, dysfunctional.

It's almost as though they don't want people in Liverpool to be able to trave anywhere else! The sole exception to all this however is the M62 eastbound, which is never crowded unless there's been an accident, and there's no annoying speed cameras like there are plaguing the M60. From the Rocket (the pub at the Liverpool end of the motorway) to the M60 can easily be done in 20 minutes if there's no traffic around.

Originally Posted by Martin G

The fact that something like almost TWENTY motorway junctions are crammed into a short 12 mile stretch of the M8 speaks volumes about the sheer complexity of the engineering going on here.

When I was little, I always noticed how motorway junctions were usually spaced out similarly on different motorways. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first looked at the M8. I mean, 31 junctions for a motorway not that long (the same number of junctions as the M5, upon which journeys can be uranium atom-decayingly long)!

Of course the good thing about it all is that if you miss a junction, the next one is never far away. Unlike, for instance J32 on the M6 northbound (use it to turn onto the M55 and on to Blackpool): miss the turnoff and it's an annoyingly long wait until J33 (near Morecambe). The longest junction gap in the country is a 17 mile one on the M11.

[The Boy David]

To answer your questions, Martin G, through the centre of Glasgow there is a 50 mph speed limit, but its still only classed as a normal (normal?!) motorway.

And the Baillieston to Newhouse stretch has recently had a Huge upgrade, but its still the A8, as there are just too many junctions that dont have anywhere near big enough on and off ramps to make the motorway grade. It is very driveable now though - they widened the road substantially, smoothed it out etc so it feels like a motorway anyway.

But damn! You got 17 lanes of running traffic down there?! And I thought we were the best


maccoinnich, dont get me wrong, the M8 is not perfect - God it's far from it! But its pretty unique, and when its running smoothly, its a pretty damn interesting motorway to drive through, especially because you get almost continuous views of the City Centre, and also because you have to constantly keep your wits about you - lane swapping is the order of the day because of th crazy number of junctions that peel off and on to the left and right of you.

And the old Canyon through Charing Cross (God Im beginning to sound like as broken record) is cool to go through, traffic or not. As Gleegie says - it has inspired development along its "banks", despite carving through the heart of the city.

The M74 extension is annoying though, I'll grant you that. Im pleased that its getting completed at last, but why why why does it have to be elevated?!

It's almost as though they don't want people in Liverpool to be able to trave anywhere else!

[gleegie]

The M8 crosses left to right in the middle distance en route to Paisley and the airport. The elevated carriageway accesses the Clyde tunnel.

[Harry]

I’m going to use this road for the first time later this month en route to Argyll. Interesting the way that this particular motorway cuts straight through the centre of a major urban area, in the way that freeways often do in the US. I can’t really think of many other through routes that do that in the UK.

Just out of interest, how do people find the M6/A74/M74 route from Manchester to Glasgow? I understand that this route is not continuous motorway, but I’m guessing that traffic volumes are not that great either. Looking forward to the road trip either way.

[Boards]

The drive up from Manchester I find is a very pleasant journey. The traffic around Manchester may be heavy but will start to ease once you get too Preston then further ease once you reach Lancaster. The journey between Lancaster and the outskirts of Glasgow from then on should be an absolute pleasure and in my opinion the finest motorway journey in the U.K. There are no large urban areas ( well theres Carlisle which has around 125'000 people in its urban area off the top of my head ) and you will be travelling through open countryside all the way. The section through the Lake District offers superb views and is probably the most scenic motorway drive available in the U.K. You're right it isnt motorway all the way theres the crappy Cumberland Gap which is a 2 lane dual carriageway that the English have obviously deemed low on the priority of motorway upgrades given its only leading into Scotland! ( still cant beleive when they built the M6 they stopped it at Carlisle - hows that for a fuck you! ) Then once you cross the Scottish border the M74 starts which is a wide 3 lane motorway and I think the best motorway in the U.K ( bar the M8 which is great for different reasons! ) unfortunately about 30 miles or so outside Glasgow the motorway drops to an old crappy 2 lane motorway and then at Hamilton becomes 3 lane again - why when they upgraded the motorway they left this two lane part as it was I have no idea but I think it very unlikely it will be sorted out in the near future which is such a shame as otherwise the M74 is the perfect example of how a motorway should flow. Be warned the M8 through Glasgow is confusing for a stranger and can be quite daunting in heavy traffic hence its nickname the kamikaze.

On another note will the M8/M77/M74 braid ( the 16 lane part ) have any more lanes added to it when the M74 extension is complete? The projected figures say the motorway at this section will carry 273'000 vehicles a day which will make it by far the busiest section of motorway in Europe crushing the M25 between junctions 14 and 15 ( yes even when it is dual 6 lanes - although the M8 has been 6 lanes each way south of the Kingston bridge for over 20 years - well in a way! ) - nice.