A8

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A8

View gallery (8)

From:

Edinburgh (NT258740)

To:

Greenock (NS280763)

Via:

Glasgow

Length:

68.8 miles (110.7 km)

Meets:

A1, A7, A720, M9, M8,
A725, M73, A77, A739

Primary Destinations

Edinburgh • Glasgow • Greenock •

Highways Authorities

Transport Scotland • Edinburgh • Glasgow • Renfrewshire

Traditional Counties

Mid Lothian • West Lothian • Lanarkshire • Renfrewshire

Route outline (key)

A8	Edinburgh City Centre - A720
A8	A720 - M9
A8	M9- Airdrie
A8	Airdrie - Coatbridge
A8	Coatbridge - Bishopton
A8	Bishopton - Greenock
A8	Greenock - Gourock

Route

Section 1: Edinburgh - M8 J8

This page may need updating or rewriting for the reason stated below. If you have the knowledge, please consider updating!

Total rewrite of Section 1 required

The A8 starts at Edinburgh's East End Junction, of which David D Miller has assembled a fine photo album here - the photograph entitled "Looking west along the A8 Princes Street" gives you an idea of the impressive beginning to this road. The section along Princes Street is now only open to buses and cycles (although other vehicles are permitted in the westbound direction between 8pm and 6am). Princes Street is remarkable in many respects, not least because it's the only main shopping street I know of that is built-up on only one side - I believe that a mid-19th century Act of Parliament prohibited any further development on the south side, so that the National Gallery of Scotland stands in rather splendid isolation halfway along Princes Street Gardens, which occupy most of the south side. At the West End of Princes Street there are two busy junctions with the A90 along South Charlotte Street and the A702 Lothian Road - the one-way system has changed the layout somewhat, but I'm not familiar with the details.

The A8 continues on along Shandwick Place, a wide road flanked by some impressive Georgian buildings, to a one-way system near Haymarket station - this is the junction with the A70. It continues past Donaldson's School for the Deaf (which has an extremely impressive entrance) and on across the Water of Leith near Murrayfield rugby stadium, which you will see on your left. This section is Corstorphine Road, and on the right is the entrance to Edinburgh Zoo, with the Carrick Knowe golf course opposite. It continues through the suburb of Corstorphine, where it meets the B701 (former ring road) at a roundabout. The next junction with the A902 used to be known as the Maybury roundabout - but the roundabout no longer exists, having been replaced by a light-controlled junction. (The junction takes its name from the nearby Maybury pub, whose interior is still as far as I know preserved in a 1920s Art Deco style.) Here the road becomes dual carriageway, crossing the railway line to the Forth Bridge as it does so.

Next comes the Gogar junction with the A720 City Bypass. This was once a simple roundabout (and a horrendous bottleneck), but now the A8 passes underneath, which must have improved traffic flow a great deal. There is another grade-separated junction with an unclassified road serving Edinburgh Airport, and the dual carriageway continues to what was once known as the Newbridge roundabout - again, now part of a more complex junction with the M9 and the spur to the M8. So at least three of Edinburgh's most notorious roundabouts have either disappeared or been substantially reworked!

The A8 disappears between here and junction 6 of the M8 (its temporary terminus), to reappear as a "weak link" in the M8 route running to the south of Coatbridge. This section is two-lane dual carriageway with grade-separated junctions, and I believe that a new section of road is being constructed alongside it to allow the M8 to become continuous. Its main junction is with the A725 serving Coatbridge and Bellshill, which is still a "partial cloverleaf". After this it reaches junction 8 of the M8, which is also junction 2 of the M73 - a three-level stacked roundabout junction with a few extra slip roads. To continue on the A8 traffic must come off the main carriageway and proceed straight across the roundabout.

Original Author(s): Guy

Section 2: M8 J8 - M8 J31

The A8 continues through North Glasgow and the suburbs of Garrowhill, Barlanark, Cranhill and Carntyne. There is clear evidence of its once-primary status: this has to be one of the widest roads in Glasgow (the A82 being the other contender). Provided one does not mind innumerable traffic signals, it can be an alternative to the M8... but only partly.

Things become more arduous as it meets the A80 at a controlled semi-roundabout. Both roads merge into single lanes as the A8 (or Alexandra Parade) heads into the City Centre. The M8 hoves into view, and for a brief moment, becomes an M8 slip road. Until the mid 70s, this was the eastbound terminus of the M8. It is incredible to imagine all Edinburgh traffic once used this road.

The road then swings sharply to the left, away from the motorway, and skirts the Royal Infirmary and Glasgow Cathedral. We are now on the once-planned east flank of the Ring Road, although its line is now unclear thanks to extensive building by Strathclyde University. At the Albert Bridge the A8 then splits: west (or should that be south) bound traffic crossing the bridge, east (and north) bound traffic crossing a few hundred yards west.

Albert Bridge.A8 crosses the Clyde

After Albert Bridge, staying on the A8 needs a sharp right turn. This is an historic crossroads: the A8 meets the A74 from the south-east (and the A728 from the south). Naturally the A8 wins the day, taking over the A74 route as it heads towards the Gorbals and under the mighty Kingston Bridge. It is very easy to come off the route here- the eastbound A8 has once again vanished (it is on the next road up). The A77 towards Ayrshire crosses here (though only southbound: northbound traffic joins at the next crossing... no-one said this route was going to be simple!) and traffic for the M8 and M77 depart soon after, via more old roads converted makeshift-style into slips. The abandonment of the Glasgow ring road system was never more in evidence than here.

Beyond the Kingston Bridge, the A8 becomes whole again - and primary, according to the signage - and heads into Govan and relative calmness. It is easy to miss another turn here: stay on the main road (Paisley Road West) and you will find yourself on the A761. To remain on the A8 another right turn is needed at a fork just before Rangers FC. Just beyond it, any other traffic for the M77 and Kilmarnock leave at a nearby roundabout. Two miles later at Drumoyne, the A739 Clyde Tunnel route crosses over, with slips joining and leaving at the roundabout beneath.

The A8 is then signed as non-primary once more (though it is now dualled proper for the first time since Carntyne) and again the M8 swerves into view. Both roads nearly multiplex for about a mile and a half (this was another former junction before the M8 was completed. For a brief moment the Renfrew Motorway bore the title of A8(M) here). The A8 is very busy at this point owing to the innumerable car parks of Braehead shopping complex, and a large controlled roundabout takes traffic here and under the M8 to the Hillington Industrial Estate via the A736.

Yet another roundabout a mile later, and another opportunity to miss the route. Straight ahead is the A877 into Renfrew Town Centre- and a continuation of the dualled road. The A8 leads off beside it in a rather less impressive leafy suburban road. It soon joins the main A741 Paisley-Renfrew artery, and dog-legs across a roundabout before heading off towards the northern end of Renfrew.

There is a marvellous old swing bridge here- it no longer swings, but the majestic solidity of its function remains. Traffic lights wisely control access to it, and double up for a fork ahead. The left fork is an unclassified access road for Glasgow Airport, and as the A8 heads right the bright lights of Runway no 1 can be seen on both sides of the road. At Inchinnan the recently-restored India Tyre Factory (or should that be palace?) add a touch of elegance.

The A726 Paisley-Erskine/Erskine Bridge route crosses here at the recently-enlarged Red Smiddy (smithy) roundabout, though the blacksmiths has long gone. The A8 then crosses the M8 just before Bishopton (though with no access). At Bishopton there is another opportunity for traffic to leave for the Erskine Bridge. After Bishopton the A8 makes straight for the M8, where it dovetails at the West Ferry roundabout.

Original Author(s): Steven Kelly

Section 3: M8 J31 - Greenock

At the end of the M8, the A8 becomes a dual carriageway. It has been extensively realigned, with the old route either abandoned (often still partly visible) or unclassified for access only. For two major sections the route actually sits on land reclaimed from the Clyde, affording spectacular views the pre 1970s motorist was denied. In fact, by the point it reaches Port Glasgow, three generations of the A8 run parallel—the original route through tenement housing, a 1960s dual carriageway bypassing them (now incongruously quiet) and the modern, land-reclamation route north of the railway—they meet at the roundabout with the A761. None of the original A8 at Port Glasgow is used—either being built over or unclassified, though the modern road swerves across it on several occasions. As it enters Greenock, the original route re-emerges, the dual carriageway maintained by widening the road on stilts over a dock, though the driver wouldn’t know it—the overhang is obscured by a high wall.

The route ends in considerably less historic surroundings than its Edinburgh origins, at the so-called ‘bullring’ roundabout where the A78 meets the A770 Gourock road. In a former life the first part of the A770 formed the A8’s conclusion in Gourock, however this was reclassified as a secondary route when the A78 was upgraded through Greenock.