Glasgow City Council favours plans to demolish stretch of M8

Glasgow city council has favoured plans to demolish a key stretch of Scotland's busiest motorway.

Temporary work to the Woodside Viaducts, which carry the M8 on the north side of the Kingston Bridge, has been ongoing for years at a cost of £152m.

Transport Scotland is consulting on options for a more permanent fix, with the cheapest being to remove that section of the motorway entirely and re-route traffic via the M74.

The other two options are to either repair or replace the viaducts, which would be more expensive and take longer.

In a letter to Transport Scotland, a council spokesperson said: "Overall, we consider that the option to 'Remove' the M8 Woodside viaducts could be consistent with the Council's position.

"As such, the Council is ready to work constructively and collaboratively with Transport Scotland to fully understand the nature of this opportunity, its feasibility and what alternatives and significant investment would be required to unlock transformational benefits."

The letter also said the council has "long recognised" the construction of the M8 has "detrimentally impacted the urban fabric of our communities, damaging city centre placemaking and creating severance between the city centre and localities to its north and west."

The issue is set to be raised by Scottish Greens councillor Christy Mearns at a full council meeting on Thursday. She will ask that the city convener write to the new transport secretary urging them to back the remove option.

The viaducts carry the M8 Motorway through the north of Glasgow and are situated between Junction 16 (Craighall) and Junction 17 (Charing Cross).

As part of its strategic review, Transport Scotland is considering three options: repairing the viaducts, replacing them, or removing them entirely.

Removing them would require the closure of part of the M8. Under this scenario, all through‑traffic would be rerouted via the M74 on the south side of the city.

Officials estimate it would cost less than £125m and take 1-2 years to complete.

However, a report noted that the M74 is already operating near capacity, raising questions about how well it could absorb the extra diverted traffic.

Repairing the viaducts could cost from £125m to £200m and take up to three years to complete.

The most expensive option, estimated at £200m-£500m, would be to replace them completely, with the work potentially lasting up to four years.

Transport Scotland acknowledged that removing a section of the motorway would likely cause significant disruption, with major impacts on congestion, journey times and resilience across the wider road network.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "We are keen to hear the thoughts of the local communities and road users on the permanent solution for the M8 Woodside Viaducts project.

"Public engagement events are being held to provide local communities and road users with the opportunity to learn more and to share their feedback on the options."