M77 motorway
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South of Newton Mearns
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| Route information | |
| Length: | 20.0 mi (32.2 km) |
| Existed: | 1977 – present |
| History: | Constructed 1977–2005 |
| Major junctions | |
| North end: |
Glasgow Kinning Park (55°50′42″N 4°17′49″W / 55.845°N 4.297°W) |
 M8 motorway |
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| South end: | Fenwick |
| Location | |
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Primary destinations: |
South-west Scotland |
| Road network | |
The M77 motorway is a motorway in Scotland. It begins in Glasgow at the M8 motorway at Kinning Park, and terminates near Kilmarnock at Fenwick. Changes were made in 2005 segregating a lane on the M8 motorway almost as far as the Kingston Bridge, which in January 2006 was extended further onto the bridge itself. It forms the most northerly part of the A77 trunk road which links Glasgow to Stranraer in the South West of Scotland. (The A77 itself continues to Portpatrick in the Rhins of Galloway.)
The original M77 was a short 1.5-mile (2.4 km) spur route which took traffic from the M8 motorway in the Kinning Park area of Glasgow, ending at a roundabout on Dumbreck Road close to Bellahouston Park, although prior to this there had been an unused spur running to roughly Ibrox telephone exchange on Gower Street. A large number of accidents and pollution problems caused in the Giffnock and Newton Mearns districts by commuter traffic and heavy lorries (the A77 is the main route for ferry-bound traffic sailing to Northern Ireland), saw an extension being built to the motorway in 1994 to bypass these areas, which was opened in 1997. This was fiercely opposed by environmentalists, who set up a road protest camp, as it meant that the motorway would cut through the historic Pollok Country Park. Approval for the extension was granted and construction went ahead. A threatening visit in 1995 to the protesters of 'Pollok Free State' by the Conservative Member of Parliament Allan Stewart (then the MP for Eastwood the constituency including Newton Mearns, which the new road would bypass), accompanied by his airgun-wielding son, resulted in a political shot in the foot, contributing to his subsequent resignation, and a fine for his son in Paisley Sheriff Court. The Conservatives lost the Eastwood seat in the next election in 1997.
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