Wednesday 27th April 2005
The £132 million M77 extension and Glasgow Southern Orbital (GSO) project, at the largest road construction projects undertaken in mainland Scotland, was officially opened by Scotland’s First Minister Jack McConnell. The public-private partnership (PPP) scheme replaced 9.4 miles of the old A77 with motorway which is linked to East Kilbride via the 5.7-mile GSO. The stretch of the A77 which the M77 upgrade replaced had long been considered an accident blackspot, with thousands of cars, buses and lorries roaring along a four-lane highway with no barrier to separate them, and several crossings to add to the hazards. In the 10 years prior to the opening of the GSO, 27 people had been killed, with another 105 people seriously injured.
