Miss Andersonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the reconstruction of the Glasgow—Carlisle trunk road.
§ Mr. MaclayMy Department is providing dual carriageways for the full 83 miles of this road (A.74) in Scotland. A high standard of engineering design is being adopted which will include free flow junctions with important connecting roads.
The work of reconstruction must take place largely along the line of the existing road and it must be carried out so that it will cause the minimum of inconvenience to the heavy industrial and other traffic using the route. There are also 8 railway bridges crossing the main Glasgow—Carlisle railway line to be reconstructed. To avoid delays which would seriously upset running on this 247W heavily used line not more than one bridge on it must be under reconstruction at any one time.
The work has, therefore, been planned to be carried out in a series of schemes each costing on the average about£600,000–£700,000 arranged so far as possible to extend continuously the existing lengths of dual carriageway in Lanarkshire and Dumfriesshire. Twenty miles are now under reconstruction and a contract for a further five miles will be let shortly. Two of the main line bridges have been reconstructed and a new bridge is now being built at a third point.
I intend to authorise further schemes now under preparation so as to keep the length of road under reconstruction at any time to a maximum of about 25 miles and to arrange now for the preparation of the final schemes which will require to be authorised after the end of the current 4-year road programme on 31st March, 1962. Among these will be the Hamilton bypass and I have already appointed consulting engineers to report to me on the case for constructing it and the link road from it to the Glasgow Stirling road (A.80) near Mollinsburn under the Special Roads Act, 1949.