14 August 2017

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon officially opened the £500 million M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project.

The project, including the new seven mile stretch of the M8 motorway, is saving motorists up to 20 minutes on journey times and aims to tackle congestion problems in central Scotland.

FM @NicolaSturgeon will officially open the £500m M8 M73 M74 Improvements Project, cutting journeys by up to 20mins: https://t.co/pakmejERzA

— First Minister (@ScotGovFM) August 14, 2017

The journey time savings have been assessed as contributing more than £1bn to Scotland’s economy, improving the connections for businesses between Edinburgh and Glasgow and beyond.

Improved road safety through the reduction of traffic on local roads, is set to result in a predicted reduction of more than 100 accidents per year, and accident savings of more than £118m over a 30 year period.

Speaking at the opening event at Maxim Business Park at Eurocentral, the First Minister said:

The M8 is a vital link in the central belt and this newly completed section will help connect people to business, leisure and education opportunities and also creates a better environment for companies to do business.

“Businesses are already reporting a journey time saving of up to 20 minutes travel between Scotland’s biggest cities and a similar saving for those using Raith junction. These improvements and additional road capacity will ensure our economy has room to grow.

“With the completion of this project, and three others others – the Queensferry crossing, the first section of the A9 dualling and the Aberdeen bypass – by next spring, more than 250km of new roads will have been completed in the last 10 years – representing a total investment in construction of £2.81 billion.”