East End Regeneration Route
Published by Anne Marie Hughes on Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 22:12
The flow of traffic to and from the city centre has been significantly eased after the opening of the East End Regeneration Route.
Phase 2 of the four-lane, 2.6km carriageway links the Oatlands neighbourhood and the M74 junction at Polmadie in the south to the Forge Retail Park in the north, increasingly accessibility to the area.
When open, the road will be officially named The Clyde Gateway. This is partly in recognition of work of the urban regeneration company that covers a large part of the East End of the city and also because the road will unlock development sites, improve transport links and help create jobs, particularly in the Shawfield and Dalmarnock communities.
Fully funded by the council, the £25m construction scheme was designed by Gronmij and built through a joint venture between Farrans and I&H Brown.
The stretch of road is also considered a vital piece of infrastructure needed to support a successful Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games as it will provide easy access to Celtic Park, where the opening ceremony will be held, Commonwealth Arena, Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and Athletes' Village.
Aside from being a critical route for transporting the some 18,000 athletes and support staff and hundreds of thousands of spectators expected during the Games it enables a longer term legacy for the local community as they make use of these facilities after the event.
Traffic congestion on existing local roads should also ease especially during peak times. Recent traffic modelling studies have shown that there will be a reduction in traffic across the major east/west arteries crossing road around London Road and Gallowgate and in association with the new M74 link will free up road space to allow for additional walking, cycling and bus routes to be put in place.
Phase 1 of the road opened in April 2007 as part of the development of new housing in the Oatlands area and was officially re-named as New Rutherglen Road. Phase 1A followed in April 2010, running from the Polmadie junction of the M74 and Shawfield Stadium. This stretch totals 1.5km.
Phase 2 is the longest section of the road, crossing the Clyde at Rutherglen Bridge and passing Dalmarnock Railway Station, the Commonwealth Arena and Celtic Park before joining the Parkhead by-pass at the Forge Retail Park
Neil MacDonald, Chairman of Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company said: "The M74 has already shown that new roads play a very important part in businesses choosing where to make crucial investment decisions and there is no doubt that Shawfield and Dalmarnock in particular will benefit from this new piece of infrastructure.
"Our on-going efforts to attract developers to the East End have been helped immensely by today's opening and I'd like to thank Glasgow City Council for again demonstrating their commitment to the long-term regeneration of the Clyde Gateway area."
The Clyde Gateway (Phase 2) Facts
- More than 35,000tonnes of asphalt used to lay roads, footpaths and cycle ways.
- 800m of 2.74m diameter tunnel used to alleviate storm water flooding.
- More than 250 trees planted and 40,000 sq m of landscaping to the road corridor.
- 10km of new drainage pipes installed for new roads.
- 250 new traffic signal heads installed over seven junctions.
- 330 new lighting columns.
- Construction period 2 years (April 2010 to April 2012)
