Glasgow Inner Ring Road
The Glasgow Inner Ring Road was a proposed ring road encircling the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Construction of the ring began in the 1960s, but was only half-completed when it was abandoned in 1980. Alternative proposals for the construction of the two remaining sides have since been suggested.
Construction
The Burns Report
The Burns Report, a wide-ranging investigation into transport in Glasgow proposed (in addition to other road plans and a redistribution of rail termini) a number of new motorways into and around central Glasgow. At least three new arterial motorways, the Monklands, Renfrew and Maryhill Motorways, would be constructed in towards the city centre, terminating on a new ring road. The ring would take the shape of a "box" around the centre, with four straight flanks and an interchange at each corner for a connection to the perpendicular section of the ring and to the new arterials. The plans were drawn up in the years immediately following World War II, and the initial contracts were handed out after consultation between the Glasgow City Corporation and its traffic consultants Scott Wilson Patrick & Co., to build the northern and western flanks of the ring in four stages; Townhead, Woodside, Charing Cross and Kingston Bridge. Construction of the flanks began in 1965.
North and West Flanks
The North Flank of the ring (the Townhead and Woodside sections) would run between an interchange at St George's Cross in Woodside and an interchange at Townhead, passing through the districts of Garnethill and Cowcaddens. The entire section was to be elevated over the surrounding land on a concrete viaduct. The first contract was awarded for the Townhead section and it was the first section completed, opening in April 1968. The Woodlands section completed the North Flank in May 1971.
The West Flank (the Charing Cross and Kingston Bridge sections) was planned to run from the St George's Cross interchange, sweeping beneath Charing Cross and through Anderston before rising to cross the River Clyde and run to an interchange at Tradeston. The river crossing, whose feasibility had been considered even before the proposal of the ring road, was completed in June 1970 and opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The Charing Cross section completing the link to St George's Cross was made in February 1972, marking the end of the originally contracted work. The North and West Flanks form 2.5 miles of motorway, built at a cost of around £27 million.
Junctions with existing and proposed roads
At the Townhead (north-east) interchange, a complex grade separated junction was laid out to connect the North Flank of the ring to three roads proposed or under construction (the East Flank, the A803 Springburn Expressway, and to the Monklands Motorway to carry traffic out of the city to the east and on to Edinburgh) and to the existing A8 road towards Dennistoun and Glasgow Cross. The entire project entailed the construction of ten bridges and six pedestrian subways with over 5,000 feet of interconnecting passages.
The south-western interchange at Tradeston was built to incorporate connections to the South Flank and to the Renfrew Motorway to carry traffic out of the city westwards to Greenock and Glasgow Airport. Additional links were provided for surface roads including those to Kinning Park and the Gorbals.
Further junctions were provided with existing roads in and out of the centre at Cowcaddens, to the Great Western Road (A82), to streets in the upmarket business district, and to the new A814 Clydeside Expressway.
East and South Flanks
Plans for the South and East Flanks were never finalised, but it is known that the South Flank would have interchanged with the A77 at Eglinton Street. Both flanks would have been elevated and met in the Gorbals or Laurieston.
Abandonment
Although the Monklands Motorway and Renfrew Motorway were constructed (in 1975 and 1977 respectively), planning of the other two sides of the ring along with those for the Maryhill Motorway to the northeast were all shelved in 1980 amidst public protests against their construction on the basis of the damage done to the environment and appearance of the city. In particular, the Charing Cross section came in for harsh criticism when many properties in Anderston and Garnethill were demolished to facilitate construction; critics condemned the works as a "massacre". When the East and South Flanks were eventually abandoned, the UK government confirmed it would be the last motorway built through a city in the United Kingdom.
A number of visible loose ends were left behind because of the abandonment. Amongst the most infamous examples are the fork to the unbuilt south section at Tradeston which was left as a "ski-jump" (the road abruptly terminates in mid-air), the tangle of slip-roads at Tradeston, and the "Bridge to Nowhere", one of a number of unfinished pedestrian overpasses.
The concrete construction is now largely derided, with the M8 motorway condemned as one of the worst-built motorways in the United Kingdom, rivalled only by London's infamous M25 motorway. The M8 is consistently jammed at rush hour, with the Kingston Bridge having to cope with vast amounts of traffic that may have been redirected by the ring's completion; this traffic load has necessitated extensive roadworks on the bridge amplifying congestion. The motorway is equally derided in popular culture, with Glasgow-based pop band Deacon Blue's album Raintown largely forming an attack on the inner-city atmosphere inexorably twinned with the road, and includes a picture of it cutting through the city on the rear cover.
Resurrection
The continued traffic problems associated with central Glasgow have led to proposals for the completion of the missing two sides of the ring, albeit in a different form. The Scottish Executive hopes to alleviate congestion on the Kingston Bridge and in the city centre by providing an East and South Flank in different forms.
Southern section
Plans published by the Scottish Executive in 2003 propose the extension of the M74 motorway from its current terminus of in the south-east of the city towards the Kingston Bridge. This motorway is planned to pass through Govanhill and the Gorbals - on elevated sections like the original preliminary plans for the South Flank - and to meet the existing motorway at Tradeston, albeit a few hundred yards south of the existing interchange leaving the 'ski-jump' untouched. The plans went to public inquiry in 2004, and although its recommendation was against construction, then-Transport Minister Nicol Stephen approved the plans. The project is still however plagued by public opposition.
Eastern section
The East End Regeneration Route, originally a proposal to supplement the East Flank, has been championed by Glasgow City Council as the preferred solution for completion of the ring. The plans are for a road linking the M74 extension to the M8 at the Provan Gas Works, east of the interchange at Townhead. It is extremely unlikely that this section would be built to motorway standard; instead the road would form an urban corridor, part of which exists as a road bypassing Parkhead built in 1988 as part of The Forge shopping centre. The road is proposed to run through Hogarth Park (where a former railway embankment is now used as public open space), Haghill and Carntyne, beneath the A8 Edinburgh Road, continuing along an disused railway alignment to Provan. Preliminary planning suggested a completion date of 2008, but it is experiencing delays related to the continued opposition of the M74 extension.