A8 road (Scotland)

Edinburgh

The A8 begins at the West End of Edinburgh, in the New Town. The road originally also included Princes Street, but this stretch was declassified, as Princes Street is no longer open to all traffic.

The road continues westwards through into the suburbs of the city past affluent areas of Murrayfield and Corstorphine, often with an accompanying bus lane. Only once the road reaches the A720 City Bypass does it become a primary route, leading out past the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston, and Edinburgh Airport.

At Newbridge, the A8 meets the start of the M8 and M9 motorways. From here the A8 is interrupted; it has been renumbered A89 until Bathgate, A7066 to Whitburn and then B7066 Harthill, until it resumes at Newhouse.

Glasgow

From Newhouse it runs parallel to the M8. Until recently there was no road of motorway standard between Newhouse and Baillieston in the eastern suburbs of Glasgow, and the A8 still carried all through traffic here, having been progressively upgraded to meet demand. However it was finally replaced in 2017 by the last section of the M8. It is now the principal non-motorway access between the Eurocentral business park and the settlements of Chapelhall and Calderbank, south of Airdrie.

After Junction 8 of the M8 it diverges from the motorway and heads towards central Glasgow. The A8 now winds through suburban Baillieston, Easterhouse, Cranhill, Carntyne (as Edinburgh Road) and Dennistoun (as Alexandra Parade) under a 30 mph (48 km/h) restriction (often as a three-lane dual-carriageway) into the city centre at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Glasgow Cathedral, where it follows the High Street and then the Saltmarket running north-south - meeting the A89 (Gallowgate) and the A749 (London Road) at Glasgow Cross. It splits for the complex one-way system, recombining before crossing the Clyde near The Gorbals, where it meets the end of the A74.

From there the A8 leads out of town as Paisley Road West, passing close to Ibrox Stadium (and crossing over the M8 at Bellahouston Park), through Renfrew, passing to the rear of Glasgow Airport at Inchinnan, constantly close to the M8 until it meets it again at its western end, Junction 31 near Bishopton.

The A8 becomes the primary route again and takes traffic through Port Glasgow. Its terminus is in Greenock at a large roundabout with the A78 road and the A770 to Gourock, which was the former terminus of the A8.