A section of Scotland’s busiest road, the M8, will close for a 12-hour period on Saturday 1 August to allow construction teams to demolish the footbridge, which connects Baird Street in Glasgow city centre to the Sighthill area.

A “landmark” new pedestrian and cycle bridge is planned in its place to provide a sustainable transport corridor between central and north Glasgow. This project will be completed in late 2021.

The full closure of the M8 is planned for the night of August 1 from 22:00 - 10:00hrs.

To deliver the work, a 1000-tonne crane will be positioned on the road throughout the closure and will be used to remove the pedestrian bridge in two sections. The sections of concrete will be removed from site using HGVs parked on the carriageway.

The work is being delivered as part of the £250 million regeneration of Sighthill, the biggest such project in the UK outside of London.

The demolition work will be delivered by BAM Nuttall of behalf of Glasgow City Council.

Councillor Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of the Glasgow City Region Cabinet, said: “This section of the M8 is one of the busiest routes on the city’s road network, so this work has been meticulously planned to keep the impact on traffic to an absolute minimum.

“The demolition is the first step in a fantastic project to deliver a stunning new pedestrian and cycle route over the M8, connecting Sighthill and neighbouring communities to the city centre. We hope that regular travellers on this route will enjoy seeing the improvements emerging as the works are continued.”

Further road closures to complete the construction of the new crossing are planned in the summer of 2021. Further details will be made available closer to the time.