A8/Glasgow

The A8 is the most important east-west route through Glasgow, heading east out of the city to Edinburgh and west to the ports of the Clyde, including Greenock. This importance means that it has seen lots of changes over the years, not least sharp reductions in traffic when the M8 was opened. However, the first changes came just a couple of years after the A8 was originally classified in 1922. The Glasgow to Edinburgh Road started construction in 1924, and saw the A8 re-routed away from many of the eastern suburbs of Glasgow, although subsequent development has once more consumed the roadside.

The original route

The construction and recent redevelopment of the Baillieston Interchange has, perhaps surprisingly, caused little change to the alignment of the original A8 in the area. This route is now the A89, crossing the M8 slightly to the north of the original line of the road. The new roundabout was completed in 2017, and has seen the removal of the old dual carriageway, although a footpath has been retained along the route. At the traffic lights, though, the A89 continues ahead towards the city centre. For the next couple of miles, the wide tree lined boulevard which the A89 follows is the old route of the A8. However, while the line hasn't changed, there is plenty of evidence that the road itself was once wider, although perhaps not while it was the A8. sections of S3 survive, albeit partially blocked by parked cars, and at junctions 4 lanes are often squeezed in, suggesting that the road could have been S4 in places.

As the A89 reaches the centre of Shettleston, it turns away from the old A8 route, curving around the back of the bustling shopping street. At the far end, the A89 persist in taking a different route, however, following the former A802 instead of the original A8 route. This has seen the old skewed crossroads realigned, and so part of the old A8 is now a side road separated from the A89 by a pavement. The old A8 then follows Westmuir Street down to Parkhead, where it turned right onto Gallowgate. Despite now being unclassified, this remains an S4 road as it heads west, crossing the A728 at signals before rejoining the A89 at a roundabout.

The A89 then follows the old line of the A8 along Gallowgate all the way in to the city centre. While the cityscape along the roadside has changed substantially over the last century. Where there were once pockets of industry, railway sidings, tenements and cramped urbanity, there is now the Forge Retail Park, modern housing, supermarkets and parks. As the city centre is neared, however, the old Glasgow reappears, with the famous Barrowland Ballroom standing behind the pavement, before a few surviving tenement blocks.

Looking west along Morrison Street

At the Trongate Junction, the A8 used to turn right, and follow Saltmarket down to the river. Finally, after many miles through Glasgow's east end on the A89, Saltmarket is still the A8. However, then as now the precise route followed is not entirely certain. Today both Victoria Bridge and Albert Bridge are part of the complex one way systems that the A8 winds through, and it seems probable that this has always been the case. On the south bank of the Clyde, the A8 follows Norfolk Street and Morrison Street through Tradeston to Kingston and Plantation, seemingly unchanged from the original line.

However, at the fork, the old A8 turned right, following Govan Road as it curved around three sides of what was Princes Dock, now partially reclaimed as Festival Park. At one time, after the A8 was rerouted to the south in the 1960s, this was a B road, but it is now unclassified as it passes through Govan. In Govan itself, priority is now given to Golspie Street, which curves around the shopping area, but the old A8 followed Govan Road through the middle, and continued on to Linthouse. After crossing the A739, Clyde Tunnel approaches, the old A8 becomes Renfrew Road and turns sharply south to avoid King George V Dock.

Another right angled turn takes Renfrew Road and the old A8 back onto the line of the modern A8 as it heads directly into Renfrew itself. However, before we reach the town centre, there is one final deviation of the modern road to note. In 1922, the A8 continued ahead along the High Street to meet the A741 at the town hall, with a long dogleg to the left. In c1926, the A8 was re-routed to the south along Glebe Street, to cross the A741 at a staggered crossroads, and the old line along the High Street became the A877.