§ 22. Mr. Lilleyasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about progress on the reconstruction of the Glasgow-Gretna road, A.74.
§ Mr. Brooman-WhiteFive reconstructed lengths are now open to traffic and there are now 30 miles in all of dual carriageway on this 84 mile route. Two other schemes are in progress and up to schedule, and three more should have started by the end of the financial year, making a further 20 miles of dual carriageway under construction. My right hon. Friend hopes shortly to publish a draft Special Road Scheme which when made will enable him to construct as a motorway the Hamilton by-pass from Larkhall to Mount Vernon on the outskirts of Glasgow.
§ Mr. LilleyI thank my hon. Friend for that information. Is he aware that I travelled this road very recently and was highly impressed by the speed and quality of the work done under very difficult circumstances and that I should like to commend everybody concerned?
§ Mr. Brooman-WhiteI thank my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. WillisIs the hon. Gentleman aware that one visitor to this road called it a comic opera? Is it not true that the performance on this road has been perfectly scandalous? Is it not time that the Government got on with it and completed the job?
§ Mr. Brooman-WhiteI am very glad that, although costs and standards are higher than was originally envisaged, we are keeping up to the schedule announced in 1956. I am also very satisfied that our progress has been substantially better than hon. Members opposite thought that it could be when we last debated the subject.