The M8 near Glasgow city centre will be closed for 14 hours next week to allow a new pedestrian and cycle bridge to be put in place.
Scotland’s busiest motorway, will be closed between 9pm on Saturday July 31 and 11am the next morning.
It is to allow the main span of the new Sighthill Bridge over the motorway to be lifted into place overnight.
The council said a section of the road will shut in both directions for the installation. It will take hours to get it onto position and then several more to jack it into place above the motorway.
The eye-catching new 1000 tonne bridge is part of the £250m regeneration of Sighthill to provide better links to the city centre.
It is planned that the new bridge will be part of a wider active travel network connecting Sighthill, the city centre and neighbouring communities in north Glasgow.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “The installation work will be carried out by BAM Nuttall of behalf of Glasgow City Council, with the impact on traffic kept to as little a scale as possible.
"The M8 was successfully closed in the summer of 2020 to facilitate the demolition of the old footbridge, and over the past year the new bridge has been fabricated alongside the westbound carriageway of the M8. Work has also begun on the steps, ramps and concourse that form the approaches to the new structure.”
The span has been constructed beside the M8 and has been visible to motorists and passengers on the motorway on the north side of the carriageway approaching the Springburn turn off.
In the days leading up to the installation lighting masts and barriers will be removed from the M8
The bridge will be bolted to a specialist trailer, known as an SPMT, (Self Propelled Modular Transporter) which will be used for transporting the 1000-Tonne structure.
The council said: “The SPMT will then drive the bridge along the M8. This will take between four and six hours.
“The team will then use hydraulic jacks to lift the bridge into place.
“This is the most complex part of the operation, as the bridge must meet exact specifications to ensure the structure acts as designed.”
The M8 will re-open once the work is complete and all machinery removed
The bridge is expected to open in early 2022.
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