End of road in sight, three years late and at cost of £2,000 an inch

ONE of Britain's most expensive new roads is on target to open next year, Transport Scotland insisted yesterday as finance secretary John Swinney inspected progress on the £692 million project.

• John Swinney, right, sees the work with Transport Scotland director Ainslie McLaughlin. Picture: PA

Completion of the five-mile M74 extension into Glasgow is running three years late and will cost half as much more than originally expected.

The three-lane carriageways of the motorway will connect the M74 near Carmyle with the M8 just west of the Kingston Bridge over the Clyde. This will provide a more direct route through Glasgow for traffic from the south heading west, which, it is hoped, will reduce congestion on the M8.

However, the scheme has been hit with a series of delays and cost increases, including a failed legal attempt to halt it by environmental groups.

Its cost – the equivalent of more than 2,000 an inch – includes 445m for construction and 200m for land acquisition. Up to 900 people are working on the road.

Mr Swinney visited a bridge being built over the west coast main railway line at Rutherglen station. Some 16 girders are being lifted into place to support the new span.

Among other major bridges on the motorway, those linking it to the M8 are "practically complete", while the westbound section of the new Port Eglinton viaduct is also taking shape.

The bases for gantries and signs have been installed along the route, while the Fullarton roundabout at the east end of the motorway is being rebuilt.

Mr Swinney said new developments directly linked to the M74 which were either under way or had planning permission were expected to support or create some 3,000 jobs.

All but 128 of these are existing jobs that have been safeguarded as part of the relocation of 108 firms from the motorway route.

However, up to a further 1,500 jobs could be created by the planned Clyde Gateway East business park near the motorway.

Mr Swinney said the M74 extension "further reinforces our commitment to doing everything in our power to face head-on the challenges in consolidating economic recovery while supporting sustainable economic growth".

However, the Green Party attacked the road plans. Glasgow Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "There could be no clearer illustration of the incoherence at the heart of the SNP's strategy than their deliberate misuse of the word 'sustainable'.

"Ministers promoting the M74 northern extension are backing a road scheme which, the independent report concluded, will move jobs around but create none, which will just shave a few minutes off peak journey times, and which will cause a massive and growing amount of pollution.

Mr Harvie went on: "Describing this scheme as 'sustainable' is an outright abuse of the English language.

"Ministers are, in fact, irresponsibly wasting the best part of 1 billion on the M74, money which could have been used to fund public transport schemes like Glasgow Crossrail."