Where we're going, we won't need roads . . .

All images from CBRD site

The subject header above is a fine sentiment from the Doc * but until the flying car does get invented it appears that roads are exactly what we are going to get.

We've posted before that we are "slightly" sceptical about the building of the new M74 which is going to drive right through the Southside cutting us off large chunks from the City Centre. Six lanes of two storey motorway is not going to be the most pleasant thing to walk under to work each morning. The promise of less congestion has also been rubbished by several universities and road research groups along with the Governments own independent report. More roads = eventually more cars, seems to be the rule apparently.

It could, however, have been a lot worse.


The building of the M74 is the final stage of the great Glasgow highway plan of the 1960's when roads were seen as the future and salvation of humanity. No problems, it appears, could not be solved by chucking roads at them. Across the UK, rails lines were ripped out, trams were dug up and new roads sprung up all over the place as the nation become more and more dependant on our cars.

The original plans though would have been even more crazy as you can see from the very entertaining and very thorough review of "A Highway Plan for Glasgow" on CBRD site.

Its very interesting reading and I love some of the artist proposals, showing families sitting at picnic benches under a 6 lane highway. The aerial view above shows Glasgow as a city full of black shimmering roads, surrounded by trees with only a smattering of cars happy zipping around.

The site also has photos of where the route went wrong, where the left overs can be seen today and where the road would have gone had the entire plan been carried out at the time.

Thankfully it wasn't, but sadly it looks like the powers at be have decided to dust down the proposals and finish the job. Lets hope they know when to stop. I remember flicking through a few of these past plans, when I went to the Mitchell a couple of years ago, some of the other proposals of the time were to: sink George Square by 2metres, knock down the Mitchell Library, City Chambers and large chunks of the city centre and .

Another good site to visit on this topic is pathetic.org.uk which charts pathetic motorways around the country - from ones which are only a few meters long, to ones that are just a bit of a mess ie the M74.

*Doc Brown "Back to the Future Part II"