A80 road: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The A80 is a trunk road in Scotland, linking Glasgow to Stirling. The road, which has been converted to motorway standard at its beginning and end sections, is one of Scotland's busiest, taking traffic in a north easterly direction from Glasgow, to the new town of Cumbernauld, and then onward to Stirling where it merges with the M9.

The A80 has gained a reputation for being one of Scotland's worst traffic bottlenecks. The Stepps-Cumbernauld stretch, built in the 1960s is now seriously undercapacity in relation to the amount of traffic it carries. The lack of hard shoulders mean that a vehicle breakdown can cause massive jams which can stretch all the way back into the North East of Glasgow. Some of this was alleviated in 1992 by building the M80 Stepps bypass at the southern end of the route, but the problems now centre around two roundabouts, one in Moodiesburn (where the current motorway section ends), and at Auchenkilns in Cumbernauld.

The Scottish Executive finally gave the go-ahead to rebuild Aucheknkilns junction in 2003, removing the troublesome roundabout, but many feel that the only real solution to the A80's problems is to replace it entirely with a motorway which will bypass Cumbernauld completely.