Woodside Viaducts repair works on M8 set to cost £100 million and last until end of 2024

More questions about the long-term future for the M8 motorway will be raised by confirmation that repair works and the propping up of the Woodside Viaduct section of the M8 will cost upwards of £100 million and last until at least the end of 2024.

Four lanes of the motorway in each direction have been narrowed to two over the 50-year-old viaduct since March 2021. Shutting the outer lanes was a safety precaution after it was found to be in a poorer than expected condition.

At the time, a spokesperson for Amey infrastructure specialists said: “Transport Scotland were fully aware from their regular inspection regimes that the viaducts required repairs and undertook testing, inspection and load assessment to allow the full scope of that work to be determined.

“The required repairs were found to be more immediate than originally anticipated and the decision was taken to restrict traffic on the structures to reduce loading until the installation of propping and the repairs could be completed.

“The structures have been inspected annually and to national standards.

“Additional inspections of the half-joints were undertaken on a quarterly basis since 2020 to determine the rate of change.

“As part of this work, poorer than expected condition of the structures became apparent leading to the need for these measures.

“Based on the current programme, the propping works are expected to be complete in autumn 2023, which will allow removal of the current M8 lane restrictions.

“The permanent repairs will be completed in parallel with the propping works, which allow full access for repairs of the supporting crossheads.

“Our key aim in delivering the project is to reduce the overall timescale of the repair and maximise efficiency by ensuring progressive stages of the work overlap.”

A video shared on social media at the end of January this year showed daylight appearing through cracks in the road as traffic passed overhead.

Now Transport Scotland, in a freedom of information response to Carfee Scotland has stated:

- The total cost of investigative and repair works up to 19 January (date of your request) is £29.6 million.

- The estimated cost of the propping work is £81.6 Million.

- The enabling and propping works are currently programmed to continue until late 2024.

The costs outline do not include the full cost of planned repair works. A permanent repair trial will begin this summer.

Carfree Glasgow requested the information as part of their campaign to close the M8 motorway.

Labour MSP Paul Sweeney commented on Twitter: “Temporary propping of the M8 Woodside Viaducts is estimated to cost £81.6 million.

“It is the single biggest infrastructure project in Glasgow today. No consultation has happened.

“Permanent repairs will run to hundreds of millions. A review of all alternatives must be carried out.”

Glasgow Green Party councillor Christy Mearns said: “The M8 was never built to last, yet eye-watering sums of public money are still being ploughed into it.

“It’s time Transport Scotland began scoping an alternative plan for the M8 which instead starts to repair the problems it has caused for local people and the environment.”