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A8/Edinburgh - Bathgate

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A8
Location Map ( geo)
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From:  Edinburgh (NT246736)
To:  Bathgate (NS970688)
Distance:  17.6 miles (28.3 km)
Highway Authorities

Edinburgh • West Lothian

Counties

Midlothian • West Lothian

Route outline (key)
Previous Arroweast.jpg Edinburgh
A8 Edinburgh - Bathgate
Arrowwest.jpg Next Bathgate to Glasgow

The Original Route

Up until relatively recently, the A8 started at the eastern end of Princes Street in the centre of Edinburgh, where it met the A1 and A7. It was only when the City Council commenced the tram system works that the route was foreshortened to Haymarket. The A8 then still follows its original route westwards, along Corstophine Road and then Glasgow Road to The Gyle. Here, the right fork along Turnhouse Road is the original starting point of the A9, long before the airport and motorways were built, and it was also foreshortened, to Falkirk.

Although now dualled most of the way, the A8 remains faithful to its original route as far as Newbridge and the Newbridge Junction with the M9. From here on, the A8 now multiplexes with the M8, but there are two older lines of the A8 to explore, from before the motorway was built. We start, not by continuing west along the A89, but by crossing the grass and following Bridge Street through Newbridge Village. This is now closed up at both ends, but the width of the road proves its origins as part of the original A8.

West Main Street in Broxburn, now the A899

The old line of the A8 is then followed by the A89 as far as Kilpunt Roundabout, where the Glasgow and Edinburgh Road began in earnest. The old A8 therefore forks right, and is now the A899 as it passes along Main Street through Broxburn and then Uphall. However, where the A899 now turns right at Dechmont, the A8 formerly continued ahead along the unclassified Main Street through the village to become the A89 again. The junction at the western end has been realigned, but it is clear that this was once a straight piece of road. Apart from the addition of a number of roundabouts, the A89 then remains on the original A8 route right the way into the centre of Bathgate.

The Glasgow and Edinburgh Road

In 1924, the Scottish Ministry of Transport announced plans to build a new high-speed link for motor vehicles between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The route was principally planned as an unemployment relief project, and consequently it was largely constructed as single carriageway, and re-used portions of existing roads. However, approximately 37 miles was of new construction, mostly on a new alignment suitable for eventual development as a high speed dual carriageway. Initially, 4 miles were constructed with two 30-feet wide carriageways separated by a grass plot and the remainder as a single 30-feet wide carriageway with earthworks prepared for later duplication. The pavement generally consisted of a Telford base with an asphaltic wearing course, however several short lengths over boggy ground were provided with a reinforced concrete pavement.1 The western section between Glasgow and Newhouse was the highest quality build of the entire project, and explains why up to 2017, there was a gap in the M8 between junctions 6 and 7.

The 1924 route of the Edinburgh-Glasgow Road loosely followed the historical northern route, the original A8, from Edinburgh to near Bathgate, However, as we have already seen there were a number of bypasses added. Firstly, a short section of new road was built around Newbridge. This has subsequently been widened from the original S3 width to be mostly S4, with some traffic islands at the junctions. It also incorporated a new bridge over the River Almond, built wide enough to carry a full dual carriageway, but the road has still not taken full advantage of the available width.

The widened former A8 west of Dechmont

Between Newbridge and Broxburn, the road was improved online, which mostly only meant widening to the new standards. However, there was then a lengthy stretch of new road built to bypass Broxburn, Uphall and Dechmont. Again, land was acquired sufficient for a full dual carriageway to be built, and the two bridges required were built wide enough, but apart from some junction improvements, the road remains a wide S2, the construction of the motorway having overtaken any need to widen the old road in situ. From the end of the Dechmont bypass, the Glasgow and Edinburgh Road resumed the original line of the A8, albeit widened, as far as Boghall Roundabout at Bathgate.

Because the project was an unemployment relief scheme, with no definitive end date, it was plagued with delays, principally over arrangements to cross the numerous railways radiating from Glasgow. Although most of the road was drivable by 1930, it was not completely usable end to end until late 1932. By about 1930, the new road had been numbered as A8, with the A89 number used for the former A8 west from Bathgate. The total cost of the road, including resumption of the 100 to 120 feet wide reservation, was approximately £63,000 per mile.1

1960s

What was once state-of-the-art in terms of alignment and construction quickly became outdated as traffic volumes grew exponentially following World War 2. The concept of the M8 was developed to once again remove through traffic from the existing Glasgow-Edinburgh road. Parts of the M8 use the 1930s alignment, however much is built on a new route. Where the M8 motorway was opened parallel to the A8, the A8 was again redesignated: The A89 number was already following the original line of the A8 west of Bathgate, so it was natural that this number should be extended east from Bathgate to Newbridge.


References

1 New South Wales Department of Main Roads, 'European Road Practice, Great Britain. Extracts from a report by Mr. D. Craig, Chief Engineer (Country), following his visit to Great Britain and Europe, 1934' in Main Roads, Vol. 7 No. 3, May, 1936, p.110




A8
Sections
Junctions
Airport Junction • Baillieston Interchange • Bargeddie Junction • Barrangary Roundabout • Bullring Roundabout • Cartsdyke Roundabout • Chapelhall Junction • Chestnut Roundabout • Comet Roundabout (Port Glasgow) • Drumbrae Roundabout • East End Junction • Eurocentral Junction • Glasgow Cross • Glen Roundabout • Gogar Roundabout • Gorbals Cross • Gorbals Crossroads • Haymarket • Hillington Interchange • Kingston Junction • Kingston Roundabout (Port Glasgow) • Langbank Roundabout • Maybury Junction • Newark Roundabout • Newbridge Junction • Newhouse Junction • Paisley Road Toll • Red Smiddy Roundabout • Shawhead Junction • Shieldhall Roundabout • Southbar Interchange • Swinton Roundabout • West Ferry Interchange • Whitdale Roundabout • Woodhall Roundabout
Crossings
Roads
Places
Miscellaneous
Related Pictures
View gallery (179)
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