Officially open!
First Minister does the £500m honours
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon this week officially opened the £500 million M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project.
The roads have been open for some time now, but she was at Eurocentral to see the investment for herself.
It includes a new seven-mile stretch of the M8 motorway, aims to tackle congestion problems in central Scotland and is the first part of a combined £1.7 billion investment by Transport Scotland in the roads network.
New analysis by Transport Scotland shows journey times are significantly improved, with vehicles now travelling along the M8 at an average speed of almost 70mph, even during the busiest periods, saving them up to 20 minutes on journey times.
Speaking at the Maxim Business Park at Eurocentral, the First Minister said: “This new length of motorway has completed the M8 link between Glasgow and Edinburgh and Scotland’s previously most congested junction.
“The M8 is a vital link in the central belt and this newly completed section will help connect people to business, leisure and education opportunities and also creates a better environment for companies to do business.
“Businesses are already reporting a journey time saving of up to 20 minutes travel between Scotland’s biggest cities and a similar saving for those using Raith junction. These improvements and additional road capacity will ensure our economy has room to grow.
“With the completion of this project, and three others – the Queensferry crossing, the first section of the A9 dualling and the Aberdeen bypass – by next spring, more than 250km of new roads will have been completed in the last 10 years, representing a total investment in construction of £2.81 billion.”
The journey time savings have been assessed as contributing more than £1billion to Scotland’s economy, improving the connections for businesses between Edinburgh and Glasgow and beyond.
Improved road safety through the reduction of traffic on local roads, is set to result in a predicted reduction of more than 100 accidents per year, and accident savings of more than £118m over a 30-year period.
During construction, the project provided training and employment to more than 8000 workers, who contributed more than 6.5million hours of work to deliver these improvements. It also project provided a minimum of 30 graduate and apprenticeship positions during the threeyear construction period, with a further 20 construction jobs each year aimed at the long-term unemployed. The project is also expected to provide sustainable long-term employment opportunities for approximately 60 full-time staff during the operation and maintenance of these routes over a 30-year period.
Work on the project started in February 2014 and all roads on the M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project opened to traffic in spring 2017.
Craig Ritchie, director at Maxim Office Park, said: “Now it is open, the upgraded M8 is having a major positive impact on the businesses along the motorway corridor and beyond. The commute for the staff who operate at Maxim has been massively improved with less queues, quicker journey times and more cycle paths for the people that cycle to work.” were