Work on major Scottish trunk roads to get underway

A £500 million project to improve major trunk roads in Scotland has reached a major milestone.

Work will soon be starting on the M8, M73, M74 Motorway Improvements Project, which aims to tackle congestion problems on the A8/M8, M73, M74 and at key junctions including Raith (M74) and Shawhead (A725/A8).

Roads users are being warned to expect disruption as traffic restrictions come into force across the project roads from 20 March 2015.

Rail works to Edinburgh Glasgow Rail Improvement Programme (EGIP) will also get underway during the summer months.

Graeme Reid, project sponsor for Transport Scotland, said: “This major infrastructure investment will bring significant benefits to Scotland and deliver not only substantial economic savings to businesses and individuals through improved transport links, particularly between the commercial centres of Glasgow and Edinburgh. It will also improve journey time reliability, delivering congestion cutting measures and make our roads even safer, benefitting communities, businesses and the environment.”

Traffic management and safety cameras have been installed to ensure driver and worker safety.

Reid added: “The installation of safety cameras is a tried and tested mechanism that improves safety for both road users and the workforce during what will be an extremely busy period in terms of construction. Based on our experience of the recently completed M80, we know that they can also encourage a steady traffic flow on all routes.”

When complete, the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project is expected to reduce congestion across the central Scotland motorway network, as well as improve the journey time reliability between the main route of Glasgow and Edinburgh.