What's involved?
The proposed scheme is approximately 18km in length. This can be considered as three discrete sections as follows;
- Stepps to Mollinsburn - The construction of approximately 8km of new offline dual two-lane carriageway with hardshoulders from Stepps to Mollinsburn, diverging from the existing M80 at Hornshill Junction, passing through agricultural land, before rejoining the route of the existing A80 at Mollinsburn.
- Mollinsburn to Auchenkilns - The upgrading of approximately 2.7km of the existing A80 to a dual three-lane carriageway from the Mollinsburn tie-in to the western side of the new Auchenkilns Junction; and
- Auchenkilns to Haggs - The upgrading of approximately 7.3km of the existing A80 to include hardshoulders, from the east side of the new Auchenkilns Junction to the existing M80 at Haggs with the introduction of a climbing lane between Castlecary and Haggs on the eastbound carriageway and on the westbound carriageway between Castlecary to Old Inns.
Project benefits
The A80 forms part of the strategic road network between Glasgow, Stirling and the North East and is one of the most heavily used roads in Scotland carrying both strategic and commuter traffic. The section of road between Stepps and Haggs is an all purpose dual carriageway and is the only non-motorway section of the A80 between Glasgow and the end of the M80 at Dunblane. During peak hours the high volume of traffic results in congestion, delays and a poor level of service.
The existing carriageway alignment, cross section and junction layouts are substandard, and this results in further deterioration in operational conditions and raises concerns over safety. Furthermore, when there is either an incident or a need for maintenance, further congestion and delays are caused due to the lack of carriageway capacity or suitable diversion routes.
The key benefits of the proposed M80 Stepps to Haggs scheme include -
- Environment
Reducing the impact on the built and natural environment, and lessen the adverse impacts of traffic on people, through improved design and effective management of the network
- Safety
Improving safety in the A80 corridor and reduce the risk of accidents, with particular emphases on reducing conflicts between vehicles, and conflicts between vehicles and other road users
- Economy
Reducing delays and improving travel time reliability through the provision of good, quick and reliable strategic road links
- Accessibility
Providing adequate access to facilities, in particular jobs, and to provide adequate accessibility to freight deliveries
Status
Work is underway on this project with completion scheduled for 2011.
Cost, Start Date and Completion Date
These details are available from the programme document
Impact on travel
The impact on road users during the construction period is described in the traffic management section below. Following completion of the works the proposed scheme will provide significant benefilts for road users in terms of improved journey times and reliability, and improved safety with the improvements to the horizontal and vertical alignment and junction layouts.
Traffic management
The contractor will be required to produce and implement traffic management measures that will minimise the risk of congestion and disruption to the users of the A80 and the local roads. Contract Documentation will stipulate that two lanes of traffic will be maintained in each direction on the A80 from 6am to 8pm during the works. There will, however, be a requirement for a number of limited night-time lane closures during certain operations. Penalties will be imposed on the contractor for any reduction in the level of service. It is considered that there will be no significant impact in terms of traffic congestion during the construction period relative to that already experienced on the A80 and any impact on the side road network or off-line section of the scheme will also result in minimal delay.
Environmental impact
An environmental impact assessment has been carried out as an integral part of scheme design and appraisal in order to minimise environmental impacts. The purpose of the assessment is to investigate the likely impact of the preferred route on the on the biological, physical and historic environment, and to assist in the decision making process.
Route
View a route map of the project.
Documents
The Environmental Statement and a Non Technical Summary are available on the project website at www.m80steppstohaggs.com
M80/A80 Trunk Road (Hornshill to Haggs) Temporary Traffic Order
M73 Trunk Road (Gartcosh to Mollinsburn) Temporary Traffic Order
Contact
For more information on this project, please contact -
Major Transport Infrastructure Projects (MTRIPS)
Transport Scotland
Buchanan House
58 Port Dundas Road
Glasgow
G4 0HF
Telephone: 0141 272 7100
Email: info@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk
