Forth Road Bridge after work each evening
Discussion
alangla said:
irc said:
An exit from the QEUH to the M8 eastbound could easily have been built alongside the eastbound exit to the Cyde tunnel. Cross the tunnels exit lane on a bridge. Sorted.
Loads of ground between Shieldhall Rd and the motorway.
Compared to the entry exits built in tight areas around Charing Cross and Townhead it would childs play.
They were built in the 1960s with a scorched earth demolition policy and are in no way compliant with modern standards...Loads of ground between Shieldhall Rd and the motorway.
Compared to the entry exits built in tight areas around Charing Cross and Townhead it would childs play.
I'm not seeing where this bridge would go - looking at the satellite picture I assume you're talking about a link road over what's currently St Anthony's football ground then over the eastbound exit for J25 and then down to M8 level before it goes under the A739 bridge?
when ther M8 was built it was built to urban motorway standards. And it was part of a much larger plan. There would have been an inner box with a lot more motorways in the urban landscape. If they had followed through the city would be relatively traffic free. The city box being exactly that the city box. and the radials and outer rings would have provided a better routing for through traffic.
1. scortched earth ? Was more of a trailblazer than scorched earth.
2. no way compliant with modern standards... It is compliant still with inner city motorway standards. design speed of 50 back when it opened... with the improvement in cars, the design layout is satisfactory. Have you looked at some of the junctions on google earth ?
3. it was built to US freeway designs as when it was built the uk didnt have anything like it. so US design standards were adopted..
note US style lane stud markings
Kingston bridge nearing completion.
ruggedscotty said:
3. it was built to US freeway designs as when it was built the uk didnt have anything like it. so US design standards were adopted..
As luck would have it the main designer was brought up in Glasgow but a few years after qualifying as a civil engineer moved to the USA where he worked on US freeway designs in California. So after returning to the UK was possibly the only person in the country with experience of urban motorway design and had the advantage of being a native of the city..Immediately prior to starting work on the Glasgow motorways he designed the road system for Cumbernauld. Still no traffic jams there. (nothing to do with the town centre shopping/office complex).
US design standards were adopted becase he already had experience of working with them.
StescoG66 said:
Trying to place that section. Westbound at Port Dundas but looking east? The slip road underneath being the one that leads to the Royal?irc said:
ruggedscotty said:
3. it was built to US freeway designs as when it was built the uk didnt have anything like it. so US design standards were adopted..
As luck would have it the main designer was brought up in Glasgow but a few years after qualifying as a civil engineer moved to the USA where he worked on US freeway designs in California. So after returning to the UK was possibly the only person in the country with experience of urban motorway design and had the advantage of being a native of the city..Immediately prior to starting work on the Glasgow motorways he designed the road system for Cumbernauld. Still no traffic jams there. (nothing to do with the town centre shopping/office complex).
US design standards were adopted becase he already had experience of working with them.
John Cullen was born in Glasgow in 1928. He was educated at Allan Glens School, Glasgow and
joined Babtie Shaw & Morton, Consulting Engineers, as an apprentice in 1944, working mainly on
water and drainage projects. While he was with Babtie, he studied civil engineering, by day release, at
the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, taking the examinations set by the Institution of Civil
Engineers. John became professionally qualified (MICE) in 1955 and emigrated the same year, with
his wife, to Toronto, Canada, moving to Pittsburgh, USA, in 1957 where he worked mainly on highway
drainage. Later that year, he moved to De Leuw Cather in San Francisco, where, by a great stroke of
luck, he found himself working mainly on the geometric design of freeways, a rather specialised
occupation in those days, even in USA. In 1959, John and family returned to Scotland where he spent
a year with Cumbernauld Development Corporation utilising his American experience on the grade
separated and near motorway roads for the New Town. On reading a newspaper article about SWK’s
appointment as consultants for the proposed Glasgow Inner Ring Road, John wrote seeking
involvement. Initially he was offered a job on the M6 in the Lake District, which he declined, but a few
months later he accepted a position on the GIRR team in Glasgow.
John recalled his introduction to SWK “I started work in the Glasgow Office of Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick
in September 1960. The office was in High Street, in a room and kitchen tenement flat. Roy Hodgen,
who was in charge of the project and until my arrival was the sole occupant, had prepared for my
arrival by providing a drawing board on a metal stand and a stool, in the kitchen. My side table was
the top of a coal bunker. The toilet was in the back court and in wet conditions one had to leap over a
puddle to gain access. Roy was ensconced in the front room. I remember he had a table and chair but
not much else. Much was achieved in the six months we spent there before moving on to more
salubrious premises” at 4 Park Gardens
Its an interesting topic indeed. Lots of stories. Sadly we lost John Cullen recently
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