Some 150 kilometers north of Hadrian’s Wall, one of the Roman Empire’s great defenses, lies another infrastructure on which the future of Scotland rides: the M8 motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

About 160,000 vehicles traverse the 97 kilometers of this road every day, connecting Scotland’s two main economic areas. Historically, the M8 has been one of the busiest roadways in the UK. Today, it is still one of the busiest routes in the country.

About the project

Construction on its first stretch began in 1965. It was part of the first boom of motorways in the United Kingdom, which aimed to improve the road network and reduce traffic in cities. The last section was finished by the Scottish Roads Partnership consortium, including Cintra, and opened to traffic in 2019.

This entailed the construction of the last section between the towns of Baillieston and Newhouse. This addition to the A8 turned it into a high-capacity road. Connectivity with the local road network was also strengthened, and improvements were made to several sections of the M8. In all, 28.6 kilometers of motorways were built on Scottish lands: 12.4 kilometers of newly build roadways and another 16.2 kilometers of improvements on the existing route.