Skip to main content

Glasgow's new link opening

A new highway link is opening today in the Scottish city of Glasgow.
February 28, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A new highway link is opening today in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The 8km link may have cost as much as €772.4 million (£692 million) to build, around three times the original estimate for the work. The final amount for the actual cost of construction has yet to be accurately determined. The road is built as a fly-over for much of its length and connects the M74 motorway at Carmyle with the M8 motorway southwest of the Kingston Bridge in central Glasgow.

The project has been dogged by controversy since permission was given for the go-ahead back in late 1995. Critics say the link has been too expensive and will be detrimental to the environment in the area of city where it has been built. Supporters of the project however say the link will help unclog traffic Glasgow's centre at peak periods and will also help boost the economy in the area, as well as improving road safety and reducing risks to vulnerable road users in the city. Opponents of the scheme launched a number of leal challenges which helped delay construction but work on the link finally got underway in May 2008. The project was carried out by Interlink M74, a joint venture comprising 1146 Balfour Beatty, Morgan Est, Morrison Construction and 3081 Sir Robert McAlpine.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Chile’s new urban highway link
    May 2, 2022
    Nestling in a valley beside the Andes mountain range, Santiago has a growing population and has suffered from increasingly heavy congestion in recent years, requiring a new urban road link for which safety has been set as a priority for drivers - *iRAP reports
  • Highways England: new agency with long-term investment strategies
    August 18, 2015
    Highways England, created out of the old Highways Agency, was set up on April 1 to oversee a closer relationship between government client and private contractors. World Highways went to a recent forum in London to hear both sides declare their hopes and challenges. Government reforms are often met with a certain amount of scepticism thanks to years of disillusionment over forgotten ministerial promises. Given that, highway contractors in the UK could have been forgiven if they had raised their eyes skyward
  • Smart motorway project for UK’s M3
    July 23, 2014
    Balfour Beatty is to work on a €163.5 million (£129 million) upgrade project for a 21.4km stretch of the M3 motorway in the UK. The work involves upgrading the route to smart motorway status and is being carried out for the UK Government’s Highways Agency. This project will increase capacity, reduce congestion and shorten journey times for the 120,000 motorists/day using the route. This section of the motorway runs through the counties of Hampshire and Surrey, between Junction 2 which is interchange with th
  • Record breaking ABM bridge beams installed near Raith, Scotland
    September 30, 2016
    One of the largest mobile cranes in the UK, a 1,500tonne capacity unit, recently positioned nine 90tonne 42m pre-stressed bridge beams by ABM Precast Solutions. The massive W-beams were hoisted into place at Junction 5, the Raith Interchange, on Scotland’s M74 motorway – part of the M8-M73-M74 motorway improvements project.