Work is to begin on a bridge demolition project as part of the £500 million M8/M73/M74 Motorway Improvements Project.

The Bothwellpark Road Bridge, located to the north of M74 Junction 5, Raith, is the final structure to be levelled as part of the major infrastructure scheme.

The overall project is being delivered by Scottish Roads Partnership (SRP), a consortium with a construction joint venture of Ferrovial Agroman and Lagan, on behalf of Transport Scotland.

In order to carry out the scheme, the M74 will be closed to traffic in both directions from 8pm on Friday, 18 November to 6am on Monday, 21 November. Diversions will be in place.

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In a bid to reduce local traffic congestion, South Lanarkshire Council has promoted a parking restriction on a short section of Main Street, Bothwell, for the duration of the weekend closure and traffic signals will be monitored at key junctions on the surrounding roads network to improve traffic flows.

Graeme Reid, Project Manager, said: "This is the most significant road closure we have implemented as part of the works and we are anticipating major delays on all approaches, the surrounding roads and the main diversion route."

Gabriel Valtueña-Ramos, General Manager of SRP, added: "We considered a range of options to undertake the demolition of the bridge and following extensive consultation with stakeholders, it was determined that the weekend closure was the most efficient solution in terms of reducing disruption to road users."

(LM/MH)