Work will cause year-long traffic disruption

TRAFFIC bosses were yesterday striving to limit disruption on one of Europe’s busiest road bridges as motorists face year-long delays.

Diversions will be put in place on the Kingston Bridge, Glasgow, which is often plagued with roadworks and traffic jams, as refurbishment work gets under way.

Glasgow City Council is set to post route-change signs to coincide with work beginning on the bridge on 29 January.

The refurbishment and strengthening work on the Stobcross on-ramp of the bridge is expected to last until January 2006.

The Stobcross on-ramp and the westbound nearside lane on the bridge will be closed for the duration of the works, and there will be no access from the M8 motorway westbound carriageway to the West Street off-ramp.

The other four lanes on the westbound carriageway of the Kingston Bridge, and one lane of the West Street off-ramp, will remain open during the working day.

But the work will necessitate some overnight closures affecting traffic travelling towards Glasgow Airport.

Glasgow City Council will manage the contract for the Scottish Executive, which is ultimately responsible for the structure and funding.

The contract is the latest phase of a prioritised programme of repairs on and around the bridge. It follows the successful strengthening of the main bridge in 2000, replacement of the Stobcross off-ramp in 2003 and the upgrading of the parapet and cope on the central reserve last year.