Rewrite of the A8 Newhouse to Ballieston

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Duncan macknight
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Rewrite of the A8 Newhouse to Ballieston

Post by Duncan macknight »

Did a quick rewrite of the A8/Route Newhouse to Ballieston and just though I'd chuck it here to get it looked at and edited (if necessary!).

Originally the A8 became the primary road between Glasgow and Edinburgh here since this part was the earliest dualled and the M8 was simply plugged onto it at both ends. It was (and still is) a much lower standard of road than the M8 so traffic jams and slow progress was common here. Junction 6 was where motorway restrictions ended but the M8 upgrade works stayed primarily online here. However a distributor road was needed for non motorway traffic so a dual carriageway was constructed with each carriageway separated by the M8 and interrupted by 2 dumbbells (junctions 6A and 7) where access to the M8 was provided (westbound facing slips only). After Eurocentral the M8 and A8 split and run their separate ways for about 5 miles to Ballieston.
Formally the busiest junction on this section was Shawhead for the A725. The A725 southbound forms a short-cut to the M74, and as such, is the best way to make a west-to-south movement here; routes from Edinburgh and north-eastern Scotland to anywhere in western England will use this junction; a fact that makes it perplexing that it was built to such a low standard. There were formally two exists westbound and almost no priority to the major movements – the way the junction is built, you’d think half of Edinburgh commuted to Bellshill on the B7071. The slip roads are short, tight, winding, and plentiful.
An uninterrupted burst takes the road up to the A752 at Bargeddie Junction – this one’s primarily for a shopping park and cinema complex and is the only one of the five that won’t survive the upgrade to M8. It comes just before the massive Baillieston Interchange, where the A8 originally re joined the M8 towards Glasgow and became downgraded once again. Today the A8 heads under the railway bridge and climbs up to the right to encounter a Roundabout with the A89 from Coatbridge. Continuing left we wiggle under the Ballieston junction and encounter the newest member of the motorway network, the A8(M), which has been created to keep the Ballieston junction a pure blood motorway junction. Turning right at this junction takes us back to the original route though Glasgow.
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Bryn666
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Re: Rewrite of the A8 Newhouse to Ballieston

Post by Bryn666 »

My only comment is replace 'formally' with 'formerly', but other than that it seems good.

You can always edit the Wiki even if unsure; any improvements will undoubtedly follow from others. It is this collaborative method of writing that makes it so viable as a concept.
Bryn
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