Motorway Era Hits Scotland
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QCOTLAND is about to enter the
1,-/motorway • era. Between 1962-67, authorization is planned for seven of these highways as part of a 149m. drive to modernize that country's industrial trunk network. The new five-year plan, announced last week by the Secretary of State, Mr. John Maclay, will cost two and a half times as much as the comparative programmes for 1957-62.
The motorways comprise two on the Glasgow-Gretna route (A74), two on the Edinburgh-Glasgow route (A8), two on the Edinburgh-Stirling route (A9) and a new Link. between Maryville and Mollinsburn (A74 and A80). In addition, an eighth scheme linking Harthill and Dechmont on the A8 will probably be a motorway. Four of these projects are scheduled for authorization in the next two years. the rest between 1964-67.
These and several other schemes to convert existing trunk roads to dual carriageways make up about half the fiveyear programme. The rest is made up of general classified road schemes, smaller trunk road schemes and work in the crofter Counties programme.
Since 1956, much of the expenditure in Scotland has been devoted to the two major river crossings of the Forth and Clyde. The peak of this expenditure is now beginning to pass; during the next five years the emphasis will switch to the reconstruction of the main industrial trunk network. The long-term aim is to convert, during the next 10 'years, the great bulk of Scotland's heavy traffic roads, which are concentrated in the central areas, into modern dual-carriageway highways. Commercial traffic forms the key to the plan. In August last year, 222 miles of .Scottish trunk road carried more than 1,400 heavy commercial vehicles a day. Only 46 miles of those roads were dual carriageway. This will have increased to 285 miles by 1967, but the improvement schemes will have provided 170 of these miles with dual carriageways.