M8 motorway (Scotland)
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| Route information | |
Part of  E05 and  E16
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| Length: | 60.3 mi (97.0 km) |
| Existed: | 1965 – present |
| History: | Constructed 1965–95 |
| Major junctions | |
| From: |
Edinburgh City Bypass 55°55′28″N 3°18′46″W / 55.9244°N 3.3128°W |
  J2 → M9 motorway   J8 → M73 motorway   J13 → M80 motorway   J21 → M74 motorway(June 2011)   J22 → M77 motorway   J30 → M898 motorway |
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| To: |
Langbank 55°55′24″N 4°33′01″W / 55.9234°N 4.5504°W |
| Location | |
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Primary destinations: |
Edinburgh Livingston Glasgow Paisley Erskine Bridge Greenock Harthill, Scotland |
| Road network | |
The M8 is the busiest motorway in Scotland and one of the busiest in the United Kingdom. It connects the country's two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and serves other large communities including Airdrie, Coatbridge, Greenock, Livingston and Paisley. The motorway is 60 miles (97 km) long – excluding a 6-mile (9.7 km) gap between the Glasgow suburb of Baillieston and Newhouse. The motorway has one service station, located in Harthill.
With the advent of motorway-building in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s, the M8 was planned as one of a core of new motorways, designed to replace the A8 road as a high-capacity alternative for intercity travel. The motorway was constructed piecemeal in several stages bypassing towns, beginning in 1965 with the opening by Minister of State for Scotland George Willis of the bypass of Harthill. In 1968 the Renfrew Bypass was opened as the A8(M), becoming part of the M8 when the motorway to the west was connected. The Glasgow inner city section was constructed between 1968 and 1972, using a scheme outlined in the Bruce Report, which was published as the Second World War was closing, and which set out a series of initiatives to regenerate the city. Bruce's scheme evolved into what would become the Glasgow Inner Ring Road, a motorway "box" which would encircle the city centre, connected to the Renfrew Bypass at its south western corner, and the Monkland Motorway (built over the former route of the Monkland Canal) towards Edinburgh at its north eastern corner. Together, these three sections of motorway make up the present day M8.
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