Transport Scotland, an agency of the Scottish government, has been handed the responsibility of delivering an upgrade of the A80 Glasgow to Stirling Trunk Road between Stepps and Haggs to motorway standard.
The DBFO contract is between the Scottish ministers and the appointed consortium, HMC (Highway Management Construction), which is a joint venture between John Graham Ltd, Farrans Ltd, and Bilfinger Berger AG civil. The company has employed BEAR to take on the operation and maintenance; the project is currently being site managed by Jacobs Engineering.
The upgrade will see approximately 8km of new motorway constructed through green field sites, and 10km of upgrade work on the existing A80. The Stepps and Haggs route will connect via the Auchenkilns grade separated junction, an existing section of road that was built prior to the new contract and opened in 2006. The junction was designed under a separate design and build contract and has served to mitigate the traffic disruption caused by the current work. Isis Total Cleaning Solutions are pleased to be involved with the M80 upgrade project, cleaning all the offices, houses, portacabins and welfare cabins for the workers on site.
The M80 contract is valued at approximately £320 million, which includes a 30 year road maintenance plan.
Progress so far
Development of the A80 road upgrades has made significant progress in the past three months with a spokesperson from Transport Scotland stating, “The scheme is progressing well and works are on target to be completed on time.”
The Hornshill Junction (Stepps) to Mollinsburn was completed in November 2010. Following suit with regards to completion are: the new Hornshill Junction over-bridge, Lindsaybeg road over-bridge, the Auchengeich road over-bridge, the Mollinsburn to Gartferry link road over-bridge and the North road over-bridge to name a few. All were completed in the second half of 2010, meeting their assessed schedules, and are now open to traffic.
Significant progress has been made at the Mollinsburn Interchange in the last few months. This is the most complex stage of the project, providing accessto the M73 and other local access roads, but so far the old M73 road bridge has been demolished and a new roundabout has been constructed. Further works will continue into the Autumn to complete roundabouts and slip roads connecting up the M80 a and local road networks with the M73. An altered traffic layout will be implemented to ensure safety in the continuing works.
Refurbishment and widening works have also been completed recently, to three existing under road bridges: Dullatur Road, Old Inns and Forest Road. This is on the stretch of the new road between Auchenkilns and Haggs, where final carriage works are now underway.
Elsewhere, a new bridge to carry the realigned Castlecary Road through an arch of the existing Castlecary viaduct, and works to protect the viaduct piers at four different points have been completed.
Several parts of the overall project are expected to be completed soon, including the Auchengeich road bridge. Road works to the southern approach of the North Road bridge and construction of the Kilsyth road over bridge are on target to be finished in the Summer 2011.
