Tell me something I do not already know. I need to use this road everyday. I would like to add that the vast majority of the M8 is nothing more than a glorified dual carriageway.
www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/editor-s-picks/m8-hat-trick-in-uk-top-10-roads-to-traffic-jam-hell-1.1065707
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Kingston Bridge has been unable to cope with traffic levels for the last 35 years, I sat in jams on it most evenings on the way back from university.
It hasn't got any better over the years when I have been back up visiting parents and family.
It may.. get a bit better when the new link road from the M6/M74 across the south of Glasgow eventually opens, whenever that may be
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The M74 link is due to open at or about June 2011. Months ahead of schedule if my memory serves me correct.
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I can just about remember driving between Edinburgh and Glasgow ( or maybe being driven by my father, perhaps I'm not that old.. ) on the old A8 with its suicide chicken three lane set up before they opened the M8.
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Yesterday i felt a bit guilty but i chose the M74 instead of the (normally faster) M8 -- they're even stevens distance wise from my place to the car park in the city centre.
Slow progress the whole way in on the M74, from the stand still traffic Hamilton -> the Raith interchange, to the queue to come off the end of the M74 onto London road. The queues on London road... blaa blaa blaa
I was thinking to myself "this was a bad choice" when the radio piped up at that exact moment with a traffic announcement...
M8 westbound, royally stuffed. Breakdown in the outside lane at Easterhouse i think it was. Then a bump at Parkhead? Everything at a total stand still. Made a right song and dance about how gridlocked the M8 westbound was.
Then for the double... just at that i spied hazards on a lorry quarter mile distant on the right hand lane on London road, everyone was oblivious, piling into the right hand lane, i got a clear run...
Like i said, guilty feeling but pleasure too!
Last edited by: Skoda on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 17:39
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Traffic jam in the Easterhouse section ? I'll bet someone slowed down enough for the locals to have his wheels off...
:-)
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...I'll bet someone slowed down enough for the locals to have his wheels off...
You mean not only are there traffic jams in Scotland, but also criminals?
An illusion shattered, I thought it was like the picture on the front of the shortbread tin.
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Skoda, I am like you , M8 or M74 is eaksy peaksy which is quicker.
Have been taking M74 lately and along London Road all the way to the Gorbals.
But this last week or so the first stretch of London Road is now down to one lane which slows things down. So yesterday I came off M74 and headed up to Rutherglen and then along Dalmarnock Road. Just past the Tesco there is a huge illuminated sign saying that the road there is closing next week for something like 60 weeks!
So all that traffic is going to need to go somewhere - I reckon London Rd !
Today I came off at the Fort, up the back of the Fort to the new 5 a sides, and then down past Arthur Thomson's old gaff out to Robroyston, down past Dales and Mercedes and back onto M8 just after Charing X.
It worked quite well!
The thing is, each morning, when I set off I don't know what route I am taking! Even as I pass the Showcase I still don't know whether going M8 or M74, the car just kind of decides! There is a split second point just as you are abreast of the junction that you can see over the hill and see if M8 traffic is moving or stationery!
Have to say, sometimes when I am in the work's Transit, I will just stay on M8, toodle along and people watch what everyone are doing in their cars! When you have your employer's name and phone number plastered on the van there is not the same tendency to go into road-rage mode!
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>> Today I came off at the Fort, up the back of the Fort to the new 5 a sides, and then down
>> past Arthur Thomson's old gaff out to Robroyston, down past Dales and Mercedes and back
>> onto M8 just after Charing X.
>> It worked quite well!
Jeezo lol that's some route!
Interesting about the rutherglen -> dalmarnock one, cheers for that because i'd been weighing it up in my mind whether to give it a bash or not.
Only tip i've got is there's a traffic scotland iphone app for the CCTV cameras along the M8, that's pretty fast to check in the morning but no M74 or London road coverage. Google maps traffic does alright too.
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I was a boy when they built the Kingston Bridge (well @ Uni actually) but for my working life of 40 years I gave up 20 mins most days on the M8 crawling into Glasgow, 20 mins @ Auchenilkns roundabout @ Cumbernauld.
I then moved work to Edinburgh and then spent 20 mins morning & night trying to get round the Newbridge Roundabout - the only spot in the UK where 2 motorways met at a roundabout.
M74 relief road soon, no Auchenkilns roundabout and no Newbridge Roundabout issues - What are you lot complaining about?
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Karma.
Today was my longest M8 journey ever. Only got above 10mph on the stretch next to the iron horse. The rest of the way it was stopped mostly with some movement at tickover in 1st gear.
9:25am to 11:04am. 5 mins 30 secs per mile.
On the plus side, everyone was very well behaved! I never heard a single horn being tooted at anyone, people were leaving gaps and generally being sensible.
Tempted to post the video on youtube for posterity.
Last edited by: Skoda on Thu 4 Nov 10 at 12:05
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You didn't video it did you? What was the problem today? I cut through Mossend, Bellshill, Viewpark onto M74 at the old zoo.
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>> You didn't video it did you?
Aye i ended up wiring that roadhawk in car camera thing in permanently. Very neatly if i do say so myself!
>> What was the problem today?
Nothing that i could see.
>> I cut through
I should listen to my own advice, i never checked the route before i set off... :-(
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someone told me recently there was an app yopu could get for iphone that showed you the M8 cameras......... :)
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"the only spot in the UK where 2 motorways met at a roundabout"
Not so, FB. The M57 and M58 met at what used to be Switch Island near to the Grand National course in Liverpool. The junction has recently been re-designed and is no longer a roundabout but was so for many years. Incidentally, the M58 must be the least used motorway in the UK.
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>> "the only spot in the UK where 2 motorways met at a roundabout"
>>
at junction 8/9 of the M4 it meets the A404M and the A308M, which goes 1 better as a place where 3 motorways meet at a roundabout
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...Incidentally, the M58 must be the least used motorway in the UK...
I think the M50 'Ross spur' off the M5 would run it a close second.
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Ah! yes, the M50. As I haven't used it for some considerable time I had forgotten all about it.
Back in the late 70's/early 80's I used to use it once a year to travel down to the West Country, usually early on a Sunday morning. One year I seem to remember not overtaking nor being overtaken by another vehicle the whole (fairly short) length of it. I suppose that it is used more these days but it probably would run the M58 close.
Unless anybody has another candidate? It's obviously not an exact science but reports of underused motorways would make a change from tales of motorway hell where poor commuters spend considerable proportions of their working day sat in traffic jams.
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M8 Traffic Jam Hell - FotheringtonTomas
