Amey’s Glasgow M8 motorway repair hampered by ‘inaccurate records’

Work to repair part of a Glasgow motorway has been delayed again, with the client blaming "inaccurate records of utility apparatus". Amey's work on the M8 Woodside Viaducts will not be complete until the second half of 2027, Transport Scotland announced today (28 August) -- four years later than planned. It follows the discovery of a sewer in a different place to that expected.

The contractor is working on a scheme to prop and renew the structures, which were completed in 1971. A planned refurbishment in 2021 found the viaduct crossheads were in a much worse condition than expected. In February 2022 it was announced that the job would be completed in November 2023.

Transport Scotland has already announced two prior delays, including in May 2024 when it said the work was more challenging than initially thought. Work remaining to be completed includes the strengthening of triangular crossheads, which support the viaducts at their western end, and associated propping steelwork, both of which have been more complicated than anticipated, Transport Scotland said. The statement added that discovering a sewer close to a subway tunnel, in a different place to where it had been expected, had introduced an unusual level of complexity and resulted in delays to propping both the eastbound and westbound viaducts.

"This has slowed progress to the temporary propping in this location and, despite mitigation measures already in place, is impacting the completion of the westbound viaduct propping," it added. Transport Scotland director of major projects Lawrence Shackman said: "I'd like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding to date and assure them that Transport Scotland continues to robustly engage with the contractor, Amey, to deliver the work as quickly and safely as possible, while keeping the motorway open to the 150,000 vehicles who use it daily." He said the project had made "substantial progress" with temporary props installed at 13 out of 23 locations, with 10 of those having been jacked to support the carriageway.

"The location of the motorway through a busy, built-up city has meant this project has always been technically complex and presented a number of challenges, notwithstanding dealing with 23 supports that all require individual propping designs to take account of the varying column heights, span lengths and widths," he added. "The project has been continuously hampered by inaccurate records of utility apparatus as well as the recent discovery of an uncharted sewer buried deep underground leading to delays and additional work." The eastbound carriageway is now due to open in autumn 2026 with the westbound carriageway due to follow in the second half of 2027.

Last week, Frances Ratcliffe, Transport Scotland's bridge manager for M8 Woodside Viaducts, told Construction News' sister title New Civil Engineer[1] that the emergency nature of the works meant site investigations and design had to be carried out after traffic restrictions were implemented.

"It is not unusual for a project of this scale to be a number of years in the planning before coming to site," she said.

References

1. ^ New Civil Engineer (www.newcivilengineer.com)