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The Inner Ring Road was a proposed motorway around the city centre of Glasgow. Only its north and west flanks were constructed, today part of the M8 motorway between Townhead Interchange and the Kingston Bridge. First mooted in Robert Bruce’s “First Planning Report” of 1945, formal proposals were not outlined until the publication of the “Interim Report on the Glasgow Inner Ring Road” in 1962. This report, produced by Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and Partners on behalf of Glasgow Corporation, was the first of many recommending radical solutions to solve the city’s growing traffic problem.
This article provides an overview of plans for the Inner Ring Road’s unbuilt south and east flanks, originally proposed for construction between 1975 and 1980. The motorway, sections of which would have been built in Glasgow Green and adjacent to the city’s historic High Street, drew considerable public criticism leading to its cancellation in the early 1980s.
Key Data
Location
Glasgow City Centre
Consulting Engineers
Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick
Holford & Associates
Construction
Proposed
1975 to 1980
Estimated Cost
£20 million
(1965 estimate)
Initial Proposal (1963-1973)
The South and East Flanks of the Inner Ring Road were expected to fulfil two main functions. Firstly, to improve access to the south and east of Glasgow city centre whilst relieving High Street and other existing routes of traffic congestion. Secondly, to distribute traffic from the south and east of the city onto other routes such as the Hamilton, Renfrew and Ayr Motorways. Traffic studies undertaken in 1960 indicated that this would be the busier half of the ring road.
As with other sections of the Inner Ring Road, Glasgow Corporation intended that the South and East Flanks be built within the already approved Comprehensive Development Areas (CDAs). This provided an opportunity for the road’s designers to locate it within areas earmarked for clearance and redevelopment, reducing property acquisition costs and avoiding interactions with existing streets. With plans for extensive CDAs at Townhead, Glasgow Cross, Gallowgate and Hutchesontown it was relatively straightforward to find the space necessary for an urban motorway.
Plans for the Inner Ring Road were approved by the Corporation in 1963. In November of that year it was determined that priority should be given to the completion of the north and west Flanks as they offered the most immediate relief to traffic congestion and better suited the CDA programmes at Anderston, Cowcaddens and Townhead. Completion of the South and East Flanks would follow with construction initially planned by 1975. In 1965 it was estimated that the total cost of the works would be £20 million, equivalent to around £320 million in 2023.
Artist's impression of the south flank of the Inner Ring Road at Laurieston from 'A Highway Plan for Glasgow', published in 1965. This elevated section of motorway was expected to "provide many new and exciting glimpses of the city skyline".
It was proposed that the east flank be positioned parallel to Castle Street and High Street, interchanging with the North Flank, Monkland Motorway and Springburn Expressway at Townhead. Initially the road would be placed in cutting, passing below Cathedral Street and to the west of the Cathedral. South of Duke Street the road was to have passed immediately west of the High Street Goods Stations, east of Glasgow Cross and south through Glasgow Green. This section would have been completely elevated. After crossing the River Clyde near the tidal weir, the route would have become the south flank, crossing Ballater Street, Eglinton Street and the railway emerging from Central Station. Positioned between Wallace Street and Cook Street, it would have interchanged with the west flank at the southern end of the Kingston Bridge. Several intermediate junctions were proposed and can be seen on the plan above. The south flank would have been elevated along its entire length, similar to the Woodside Section of the north flank.
Glasgow Corporation's plans for a new Cathedral Precinct led to proposals for a section of the east flank to be placed in a tunnel. This model dates from around 1970 and shows the motorway passing to the west of the Barony Church.
The proposed alignment of the east flank was not well received by the public or the Corporation's planning department. Both had significant concerns about the impact of the road on historic parts of the city centre and by the late 1960s there were calls for changes to be made.
By the early 1970s voices calling for the conservation of fine buildings within Glasgow, often described as the "finest surviving example of a great Victorian city", had become much louder. A report on the city by renowned architect and planner Viscount Esher and campaigns by the Scottish Civic Trust and New Glasgow Society meant the Corporation had no choice but to start listening.
In the summer of 1972 a public participation exercise was held in which the public was informed of the need for the completion of the Inner Ring Road. The Highway Committee stood firm in their belief that the alignment proposed in the Highway Plan offered the most effective solution, however they also began to consider changes that would reduce the environmental impact of the road. By 1970 it was proposed that the road would pass the Cathedral in a cut and cover tunnel. Consideration was also given to a proposal to move the road slightly eastwards to reduce its impact on Glasgow Cross, as shown in the plan below. The public participation exercise left the Corporation in no doubt however that more significant changes to the proposal were required.
Construction of the road created many challenges for the engineers as local roads and walkways had to be kept open throughout the work. Early in the planning stages it was decided that the motorway should be constructed in a cutting to preserve the amenity of the area.
Revised Proposals (1973-1977)
Aside from routine maintenance, the Charing Cross section remains largely as built. The installation of new barrier systems and modern lighting masts are some of the few visible changes, but the coming years are likely to bring more intensive mid-life refurbishment and upgrades (particularly to the underpass and retaining walls).
A number of high-profile proposals have been made to improve the public and visual amenity of “The Canyon” area, the most significant of which is to cover a further section of the motorway in front of the Mitchell Library. There are very different public realm priorities today, but the technical challenges that led to this idea’s rejection in the 1960s remain the same: the complexity of accommodating the covering, the railway, North Street, Newton Street and the motorway in an incredibly confined horizontal and vertical space.
Glasgow City Council is also considering the introduction of cycleways and other active travel projects to improve links between the city centre and West End that will require alterations to the layout of the local road system around the Sauchiehall Street and Woodlands Road areas.
Charing Cross footbridge continues to offer stunning views of the M8 and the north of the city, fifty years after its completion. The area around the motorway is likely to be considerably redeveloped throughout the 2020s.
Charing Cross: A Retrospective
The consulting architects were particularly aware of the visual impact of the Inner Ring Road at Charing Cross and insisted the road should be constructed and finished to the highest possible standard. Their efforts are reflected in the extraordinarily expensive decision to reject a simple elevated viaduct in favour of cuttings and tunnels that protected the cityscape and prevented community severance; the extensive planting and landscaping and the use of high-quality finishes for retaining walls and other parts of the roadway. The result is an urban motorway with a more pleasing aesthetic than its equivalent in cities like Birmingham and Leeds.
However, the experience of building the Charing Cross section could be a textbook illustration of the reasons that urban motorways began to fall out of favour. The complexity of designing such roads, the extraordinary cost and disruption of building them and the inability of extensive and expensive mitigation works to fully ameliorate the negative impact on people and neighbourhoods cannot be ignored.
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Many new developments were completed soon after the motorway including the Elmbank Tower & the headquarters of Strathclyde Regional Council. An empty Charing Cross podium can be seen parallel to Sauchiehall Street.
The truth is that the Charing Cross section may have escaped significant criticism during the planning stages, but the experience of the construction phase irretrievably damaged public support for the entire Inner Ring Road. The sheer scale of the disruption involved in clearing the site and then the radical change in the character of this part of the city divides opinion to this day.
Deciding not to complete the Inner Ring Road was not without costs. Congestion, the chief complaint most people levy against today’s M8, is largely a consequence of the constrained two-lane section at Charing Cross not being designed to carry cross-city traffic—the designers had intended the East and South flanks and a second motorway bridge across the Clyde for that.
In many ways, the challenges faced by the mid-century Corporation are not unlike those faced by the Council today. Both authorities knew they needed to facilitate new ways of moving around the city and that convenient links, especially to the city centre, are essential. Excessive use of motor vehicles was also a concern even in the 1960s, with measures to discourage city traffic included in the Inner Ring Road plans. Some of these ideas, like multi-storey car parks at the edge of the city centre, near junctions with the M8 (like the one at Charing Cross, which also includes a railway station) were innovative. Half-century later, as a Low-Emission Zone is introduced in Glasgow, they seem more relevant than ever.
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The Charing Cross section of the Inner Ring Road remains controversial. The demolition of many old buildings divided opinion, and despite the efforts of the engineers to mitigate the effects of the motorway, many say it negatively impacted upon the local community.
Yes, several fine buildings were lost in the name of progress—they were in many cities in that era. No, nobody would consider driving a motorway through Charing Cross today. The project was a product of its era.
The planners of the day were acting with pride and optimism, taking on an extraordinarily difficult task they believed was necessary to prepare their home for the future. Locals like John Cullen, who grew up near St. Georges Cross and worked as an engineer for Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick on the Inner Ring Road, were determined to leave something better for their children than they themselves had.
The foresight and ambition of these people left a legacy we often take for granted: some of the shortest cross-city journey times in the UK, the pedestrianisation of Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyll Street and traffic levels in the city centre that remain considerably lower than before the motorway was built.
Maybe it’s time we showed the M8 a little love?
From the Archive
Documents
This article was first published in December 2020. Updated July 2023.
Related Content
Next
> Highway Over the Clyde: The Kingston Bridge
Previous
> Completing the North Flank: The Woodside Section
Other Inner Ring Road Articles
> The Story of Glasgow's Inner Ring Road
> Breaking Ground: Townhead Interchange
> The Unbuilt Section: The South & East Flanks
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