New road leading to construction project? I don't have confirmation at this stage but I believe that it has something to do with a new road proposed to link the M9 Spur with the A90. Today it is necessary to queue for a lengthy period of time before you are then allowed to crawl along the A8000. Oh, and they're resurfacing that too now so you've even longer to wait. Roll on the new road. And while we're at it where's the new bridge? Bah!... The "other" Bridge can be seen left horizon. You can see the proposals for the new road (A8000 upgrade) here: http://www.feta.gov.uk/... http://www.notolls.org.uk/a8000.pdf ... A company called Forkers Ltd were awarded the advance works contract to drill & grout several extensively mined oil shale workings beneath the route. http://www.forkers.com ... extract from Local Transport Today publication: July 7th 2005 issue 421 page 21: "A8000 dualling, Edinburgh. Work has started on piling work to enable the construction of the A8000 dualling which will link the end of the M9 to the A90 and provide access to the Forth Road Bridge. Four thousand bore holes will be drilled and concreted to stabilise the ground above former mineworkings. The 4.5km off-line part dual two-lane/part motorway standard road will run from the A8000/M90Humbie roundabout to join the A90 at a new grade separated junction near Dalmeny. Work on the main contract will start next year with the road opening in early 2008. Design consultants (preparation): Carl Bro/Scott Wilson. Contractor: Forkers. Clients: Forth Estuary Transport Authority/Scottish Executive/The City of Edinburgh Council. Estimated cost: £35.6m" ... That's a lot of drilling. Lots of boring... I wonder if there were any wee forkers working on the project during the summer holidays?

The road is now built and open to traffic but sadly, as I expected, it's now just another car park during the rush hour with the gridlock transferred from the old A8000 to the new M9 spur. The problem being the short distance from the end of the M9 spur to the exit to Edinburgh at Newbridge. The slow moving traffic on the A8 East toward Edinburgh and the airport causes traffic to back up all the way to the M9 spur. The spur allows only one lane of traffic to merge with the M9 and consequently fast access Livingston, Glasgow and the West of Scotland is still denied with tailbacks on the spur often tailing back to the A90 at Echline. Same problem just shifted a gridsquare to the East. What is needed is a dedicated slip to Edinburgh so the Westbound traffic can bypass and get onto the M8 more easily. The middle and outer lanes of the M9 at the merge point are generally clear but getting to them is a different matter.

Having said that, traffic masters would probably find that the locus of difficulty might move southwards toward Junction 2 at Harvest Road with the tailbacks toward Edinburgh, M8 East, at Claylands influencing further congestion as commuters look for alternative routes into Edinburgh. Quite ridiculous that Government still does not look far enough ahead during the planning stages of these proposals.