Work is to begin on a major £500m project to upgrade Scotland's motorway network.

It is understood the Scottish Roads Partnership (SRP) will carry out advanced works on the scheme ahead of signing a contract with Transport Scotland for the full job in February.

The project will see a six-mile stretch of road completed to motorway standard on the M8 in North Lanarkshire, as well as improvements to the M73 and M74.

It will see SRP - a joint venture of Ferrovial Agroman and Lagan - carry out construction work and then maintain the roads over a 30-year period. The project is being funded through the Scottish government's Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model, which reduced the scheme's estimated contractual costs by more than £100m.

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Mr Brown said: "The M8 M73 M74 Motorway Improvements Project is breaking new ground, which is great news for Scotland and great news for the jobs market.

"The motorway link between the country's two largest cities is absolutely pivotal to Scotland's sustainable economic growth and the improvements made by this project will drive significant economic benefits for businesses and improve road safety and accessibility for road users the length and breadth of the country.

"Completing the M74 directly supported 900 construction jobs – the large majority of which were filled by workers from the local area - and we expect this project will deliver similar benefits to the local economy.

"The project will also provide sustainable long-term employment opportunities throughout the 30 year operation and maintenance on these key routes."

The scheme will see a new motorway network between Glasgow and Edinburgh and this will be achieved by constructing a new M8 between Baillieston and Newhouse.

The project also includes work to improve the Raith Interchange and widening of key sections of the M8, M73 and M74.

(JP)