£692m five-mile road to 'open early' 16 | 09 | 2010

IT MAY BE three years late and, at £692 million, is costing 50% more than originally budgeted, but the new five-mile long extension to the M74 will, according to finance secretary John Swinney, "open nine months early".

The new stretch, which will connect the M74 to the M8 west of the Kingston Bridge in Glasgow, is now scheduled to open next June, well ahead of its February 2012 deadline. Work on the new road has been carried out by four of the UK`s major civil engineering contractors, Morrison Construction, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Sir Robert McAlpine.

In praising the project team's "excellent stewardship of a scheme that has involved many challenging civil engineering operations", Swinney went on to say the new roadway would be "vital" to Scotland`s economic growth and would bring "enormous potential" for regeneration to the west of Scotland.

"The M74 is the biggest infrastructure project on the ground in Scotland and is providing vital jobs and investment for the hard-pressed construction industry now," he continued. "The fact this route will open so many months ahead of schedule will be welcomed by all who will benefit from using it."

JM