Glasgow bridge is not falling down, falling down

Just read on the BBC that the squinty bride will be reopening on the 29th of June. Thats good news as I got very used to using it as a short cut and also because we recently had guests to stay who wanted to see the new bridge and it was a bit embarrassing when we had to show them it covered in rope and scaffolding.

One month to go

More M74 chat

FOR
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1892067.0.0.php

AGAINST

Article by Neil McGuire of After the News for Lorem Ipsum

Look like events have now reached the climax of the should they/ shouldn't they build the M74. For the record we think they shouldn't. The same £500m investment could be spent regenerating the same areas in far more sustainable ways, that would actually work, be greener, long lasting and reduce car usage. The road is a quick method to solve an immediate problem but is only a sticky-plaster and will end up costing us far more to resolve in the future if it is built. Click here for our previous M74 posts

M74 on the move

We received the following email

"If anyone has been down near TurriffSt/Egliton St/Devon St. you will have seen that work is progessing on the M74. There is a huge pile of earth now covering the Memorial Garden from one street to the next (The M74 road bridge is quickly rising from Caledonia Road direction.

However, the plaque to Walter is still erected on a pole at the side. I went into the site to ask if we could have it back and was told I would need to request in writing in case someone else has a prior claim!!
This seems to have been brought into play because of the dig at the ruins of an old tenement although they say they have found nothing of interest.

There is an open day at the site this Saturday 10 till 3 when I shall go down and hand in a letter of claim - I have to do it on Green Party paper to have some effect.
I will also do a little nosying. Will be there about 11.30am.

Anyone else is of course free to come along. I therefore won't be able to put up stall at Farmers Market at Queens Park.

Kay."

Raving Cyclepath

While walking down Minard Road this morning I noticed that there are signs up warning about road closures on September the 15th/ 16th when the Cycle Tour of Britain completes in Glasgow Green after a seven day race from London.

We'll try and find out more info about the route the bikes will take.

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"

M74 ?

An issue that will effect nearly the whole of the Southside is the new M74 connection which will pass right through the city and effectively cut off the south. In future when walking into town you will need to pass under 6 lanes of motorway.


The people at Jam74 were trying to put a stop to it but a legal action they tried to bring against the executive (for ignoring the public enquiry which advised the road was a bad idea) - didn't really get off the ground. I drew the coloured sketches posted here, for a article in the List around the time of the appeal. Not sure what the situation regarding any further appeals are.

The new road has created quite a bit of debate between Glaswegians for and against, but the academics and environmentalists do seem to agree that the good intentions behind the road - to ease congestion, speed up travel and reduced traffic using/ polluting minor roads will only be temporary. Research by several different groups around the world have advised that more roads actually just encourage more road users - and the fear is that within 5 years this new road will reach it's saturation and we'll end up with the same problems as before but this time involving double the number of vehicles. Considering the vast cost of the road - and the amount of alternative public transport this could buy - wouldn't improved trains/ buses be the sensible place to invest this money?

We'd be interested to gage every ones opinion so why not visit the links below for more info and then let us know what you think.

http://www.m74completion.com/ - official site
http://www.jam74.org/ - site of people trying to stop it being built
http://www.cbrd.co.uk/futures/new/m74.shtml- very odd site for motorway enthusiasts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/4757967.stm - thoughts of GP's

evening times - latest news from the evening times

http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1452715.0.0.php - even newer news on the Herald's site

Theres no business like train platform business

I saw a very interesting thing on the way home last night. I was standing on platform 4 of Central Station awaiting the train, when I noticed one of the ticket checkers doing a wee jig across the platform to one of her colleagues. Her colleague laughed and then did a little jig back.

A few of my fellow passengers noticed this and turned to watch. The two ticket collectors then walked over to each other, laughed, chatted a bit and after counting to three they did a perfect bit of synchronised tap dancing. It only lasted 30 seconds but it was very impressive. Not sure if this is a new policy by First Scotrail but I think its a great idea. Waiting for the train can be very boring. Having staff performing various variety acts on the platforms would be an excellent way to pass the time and people wouldn't mind the odd delay now and again as they could watch some more soft shoe shuffling.