Editing Transport in Glasgow (section)

===M8===
[[File:Wfm m8 motorway.jpg|thumb|right|The [[M8 motorway (Scotland)|M8]], Scotland's busiest motorway, passing under [[Charing Cross, Glasgow|Charing Cross]] in central Glasgow.]]
[[M8 motorway (Scotland)|The M8]] is Scotland's busiest motorway, running from the capital city of [[Edinburgh]], approximately {{convert|40|miles}} to the east of Glasgow, through the centre of Glasgow and on to [[Bishopton, Renfrewshire|Bishopton]] in western [[Renfrewshire]], {{convert|13|miles}} further west. The motorway was built in sections starting in 1964 and was finally completed in 2017. The city centre stretch of the M8 was originally planned to form part of a wider [[Glasgow Inner Ring Road]], a proposed ring road encircling the city. The inner ring road plans were later abandoned, however a similar motorway ring around the eastern part of the city was later completed in 2017 as part of the M74 extension.

The motorway begins at Junction 1 in the west of Edinburgh and travels westwards through [[West Lothian]] and [[North Lanarkshire]] to the north-eastern outskirts of Glasgow at [[Easterhouse]], meeting the M73 at [[Baillieston]] Interchange. Previously the section of road between Junctions 6 and 8 in North Lanarkshire was incomplete and not built to motorway standard; the road instead used a small section of the A8; however in 2017 the 'gap' was finally closed with a new six lane motorway built to connect both sides of the M8.

From here the M8 runs through the east of the city, where its character is unusual compared to other motorways in the UK, featuring illuminated overhead gantries, high mast lighting and exits and entrances to the motorway on the right and left hand sides. It connects indirectly to the M80 at [[Riddrie]] and to the A803 at [[Townhead, Glasgow|Townhead]] junction before skirting around the city centre on an elevated viaduct, meeting the A82 before dipping down through [[Charing Cross, Glasgow|Charing Cross]] and then rising again to go over the A814 ([[Argyle Street, Glasgow|Argyle Street]] / Clydeside Expressway) before crossing the River Clyde on the [[Kingston Bridge, Glasgow|Kingston Bridge]]. The bridge is 10 lanes wide and is the busiest road crossing in Europe, with traffic volumes of up to 150,000 vehicles per day.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

After the bridge, the M8 merges with the M74 and M77 at [[Plantation, Glasgow|Plantation]], becoming one of the widest stretches of road in the UK, with 16 lanes providing connections between the three motorways. The M8 continues west past [[Ibrox, Glasgow|Ibrox]] and the A739 for the [[Clyde Tunnel]], then out of the city to [[Braehead]], [[Renfrew]], [[Glasgow International Airport]], and [[Erskine, Renfrewshire|Erskine]] before continuing on to [[Greenock]] on the [[Firth of Clyde]] as the non-motorway A8.