Secrets of The Motorway - M77

[@adamclark6756]

History, geography, urban planning and a motorway! What a great addition to a Sunday.

[@fightfairfightfair]

He’s not exaggerating when he said the A77 was incredibly dangerous. It was a single carriageway with two lanes in each direction and nothing but a strip of paint between the two directions. There were lots of small junctions where turning right was allowed, so you’d have people stopped in the overtaking lane waiting for a gap in oncoming traffic to turn right. It was insane.

[@johnsim3722]

Caused quite a number of deaths. Only when one was a worker for a politician was it decided to improve the road.

[@fatkev1983]

I started uni just as the extension started. I had a classic Mini as my car to commute back and forth on the old A77. Had a few near misses on that stretch of road. Also had a few near misses with the big trucks working on the M77. I also got my first speeding ticket on the roadworks during the M77 extension work where it was set to 40mph for ages. The people that drove the old A77 daily knew what lanes to be in. The issue seemed to come from people who weren't familiar with it. But as you've stated, you don't expect to see a car stopped in the right hand lane like that. I recall the bit at the red house (was it a tea house?) could be a right ball ache.

[@johnsim3722]

@@fatkev1983 Yes, red house with a tea room in it. I don't know if anybody would be brave enough to slow down and turn into that one! Passed it so many times going up to Glasgow, just around a corner and you've got everybody around you driving fast. Never seen anybody coming from Glasgow trying to turn in (right across traffic) as that would pretty impossible with the amount of traffic. Now the old A77 is quiet and safe they don't have a tea room any more.

[@Silverbullet767]

I remember having to stop in the outside lane to cross over to the Fenwick road. Playing chicken with the traffic waiting on your turn to gun it across!

[@hamishashcroft3233]

Sounds like the A9 as current

[@spannerpasser]

As someone who uses the M77 all the time I found this informative and I’m impressed that you pronounced Fenwick properly.

[@Mrrwb]

I live in Fenwick so found this episode especially interesting.

[@leeriddick7]

I just said exactly that to my partner haha! “He pronounced Fenwick properly, good stuff”. I drive this road 5 days a week, the elevation changes allow for some good mpg (when it’s not mobbed with traffic)

[@_starfiend]

I've never heard of Fenwick until this video, sorry, but as someone who knows Keswick in the lake district well, I would have pronounced it correctly more by association.

[@kildogery]

Get Tae Fenwick!

[@lickyagyalcuz]

Possibly helped by his Northamptonshire residence as there is a village in the county called Stanwick pronounced without the W too.

[@dough740]

I used to see a Range Rover with the reg M77SUX - I could feel his pain as he sat in the daily morning queue to the M8 that started at Junction 5

[@thesloaneranger1]

lol! I used to have M74 OOH on my Ford Probe....... this was before the extension, when nobody ever believed it would happen and we were destined to be stuck on the M8 at Townhead forever lol!

[@AlanDickens]

That registration is actually on a 2019 Skoda!

[@20chocsaday]

​@@AlanDickensDid he give it to his wife as a going away present?

[@jbaldwin1970]

I was about to cycle down to Pollok Park but watched this instead. The M77 was and is hugely controversial as it cut the people of Pollock off from the park but nobody cared because that’s where the poor people lived. There’s a good overview of it in the book Poverty Safari. When you do the M8 there are some great videos from the 60s about how wonderful it will be knocking down bits of Glasgow to run a motorway right through the middle. It’s a mess. I live here but need a satnav to get on and off the 77 and 8 as it’s all so… horrible

[@robertsinnott9325]

Nice comment👍I remember the protestors who were in the trees opposite the old pollok centre.yeah Glasgow is pretty blighted by motorways.not the prettiest of cities in many areas and they do create areas of nothingness roundabout them Maybe one day the m8 will be filled in again...if we ever get decent public transport infrastructure!

[@danem2215]

Nice to know purposely routing highways through poor areas and cutting off access to services isn't just an American thing, I guess.

[@triciamcintyre4947]

No lights at night apart from cats eyes once you get on the M77 from nitshill road heading to the mearns

[@VintageClips-rf7kt]

Didn’t the protest result in a Tory MP turning up with a gun and losing his job? I could say more… about things that people want to forget and much else.

[@egpx]

Another interesting M77 fact is that you often see deer from Pollok Park grazing on the embankments between junctions two and three having somehow discovered gaps in the fencing, the little scamps. On a more serious note, the 2004 extension from Newton Mearns to Fenwick finally occurred after many fatal accidents on the appalling A77, a four lane single carriageway death trap. One crash in particular, where an off duty senior Glasgow police officer died, seemed to be the one that finally persuaded the authorities to stop dithering and get a proper motorway built.

[@hilolottery]

My mother always commented on the deer, she would see them although I was always too busy concentrating on the road to ever have a proper look. One night, shortly after her death I was driving at the section in question and remembered what my mum would say about the deer - had a quick glance at the embankment and sure enough, two of 'em.

[@dublindave78]

God, i remember that. 2 lanes of dual traffic barreling at each other at 80mph round corners, with no divide to separate the traffic flows

[@apollobouncer]

It took a drunken geriatric former cop wandering about on the road at night to finally give the people of the area the transport system they deserved. Probably the greatest service the old boy ever did for the public that paid him so well over many years.

[@20chocsaday]

A school waited for the parents to pick up a child. They didn't.

[@KaitlynnUK]

I love how the house on the left @4:29 has it own access/slip roads :)

[@Croz89]

Wonder who owns it, the house or the council?

[@flannelplant]

@@Croz89i've driven up there a few times to turn round, i belive it's just private property, there's a cool old truck that's been sat on that road for years now and im not sure who owns it though

[@fayh364]

it was originally part of the farms land I believe, and one of the conditions on the purchase of the land was that it needed access. Pretty sure MacMic own the abandoned farm, funny to hear it called patterton village as I've just always known it as part of Mearns and then into Deaconsbank

[@DJ-kh3kc]

@KaitlynnUK For historical accuracy I have answered your question and some of the others in my comment 30/6/23

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

Starting the Sunday afternoon right with some Motorway action.

[@CycolacFan]

Brilliant as usual. If you look really closely you can see a couple of fields they haven’t yet built houses on…

[@GPaint]

Worth mentioning that there was significant environmental protest at the 90s extension which ate into the edge of Pollok Park, leading to the site being occupied by protestors including the Birdman of Pollok up in the trees!

[@TheGiff7]

Remember that.

[@dminalba]

And I remembered as well the MP for Eastwood Allan Stewart turning up to meet with the protesters with his son carrying a shotgun

[@dminalba]

A stunt that ended his political career forever.

[@tommyquinnhughes]

I had a friend at university studying something like Civil Engineering. He had a placement working on the extension through Pollok Park. There were a few environmental activists who were mates and lived beside him in the halls of residence. Several times he would give these guys a lift and drop them off near the protest site. They would happily spend their day protesting against him, before he gave them a lift back home afterwards. Top guy!

[@daviethomson5707]

I remember the M77 getting built. My mate worked as groundsman in Pollok Park and on my days off, I would take my dog for a walk, and go up and see him. Part of the route through the park, had been taken over by protesters, and called the Pollok Free State. The protesters, where your usual non threatening, non violent tree huggers (Swampy, before people had heard of Swampy). A MP by the name of Allan Stewart, who also happend to be number 2 in the Scotland office, one day decided to go and face them, accompanied by his son, who for reasons known only to him, brought his air rifle. A confrontation of some sort took place, which resulted in the MP waving a pick axe handle at the protesters, and getting arrested for his troubles. A £200 fine later for him and his boy, ended his ministeral career.

[@ayrshiresoundman]

I remember the M77 opening just as I passed my driving test. Id waited my whole life for a motorway on my doorstep.

[@dennisphoenix1]

We do appreciate the time and effort you go to , especially framing the background with the outline of the man and the mountain. Well done that man 😆

[@gloomsurvivor]

i was actually quite surprised to see this, climbed loudoun hill a few times in the last couple of years and never noticed the monument at all, lol

[@erithromycin]

Friends of mine met in the climate camp protests during the m77 extension through Pollock park. Now that they drive they've admitted it is a useful road. Cowglen also had its own power generation and its chimneu was a local landmark. There is an equivalent banking complex for RBS out Edinburgh way.

[@andrewkennedy1172]

I'm old enough that not only do I remember cows walking over the Patterton Farm bridge, but also the old A77 four-lane-no-central-divider road to Troon/Ayr....that road was something else! Four lanes, 70mph and only a pair of solid white lines seperating you from a driver on the opposite carridgeway falling asleep after a long shift.....

[@egpx]

Which is what happened in the early 2000s when the sleeper and passenger in the car he hit were killed. It was that crash that seemed to galvanise the authorities into finally build the M77, something they’d been dithering over for years.

[@colincharliesdroneadventur9102]

yep that road was super sketchy back then

[@stuinNorway]

I believe if you go back a bit further in time, for a while it was a 3 lane road... 1 lane each way + a "shared" overtaking/suicide lane in the middle. Later it was relined to bo a 2nd lane one direction only, but the upgrade to 4 lanes helped until the M77 came. Used to be driven along it often heading to Stewarton to visit family.

[@G4RY1159]

Remember it too Andrew, me and a pal once cycled from East Kilbride to Ayr when we were both about 15 years old, coming back was very testing, the best bit was going down the big steep hill at Eaglesham, smoke coming off the bike tyres lol

[@nightw4tchman]

Loving the Take The High Road theme. Used to go over the rest to see my auntie and the old intro used to remind me of her.

[@paulwheeler4283]

It's amazing how many motorway junctions in the UK have slip roads to nowhere thank you again for another wonderful interesting and informative episode it's not a motorway I've driven along yet but I will do so thank you

[@manamal77]

Cool video and nice musical ending 😎”Take the High Road” 😄

[@dazzlerbob1870]

Wow, the "Take the High Road" theme took me right back to simpler times. Wicked, Sweet, Awesome!

[@a100267]

Evokes not-so-fond childhood memories of having to sit through that because my mum liked it. Seem to remember all the women were called Morag.

[@dazzlerbob1870]

@@a100267 it was the music to turn the TV over in the days where you had to get out of the chair to press a button on the TV Set. I never watched it, same as the Sullivans, which I also remember the theme, be never viewed. 👍

[@Species1571]

End theme is Take the High road, or just High Road as it was later renamed. The rock version that they used in the 90s was the best, bringing it from a soap about farmers and their yews into a more modern time. Same thing happened when Emmerdale Farm became Emmerdale and its music was updated.

[@VinDieselS70]

The A77 from Fenwick to Darnley was lethal! Two lanes + two lanes separated by two white lines and going south to Kilmarnock, suddenly you had a car stopping indicating right as he/ she was going up to one of the farms crossing northbound carriageways. Totally dangerous. Now it's so much easier.

[@starlight5229]

You know, it's always shocking to me how much green space we've lost over the years. Course, I know it goes on everywhere but when you do the then and now aeriel views, it really brings it home ☹️

[@AutoShenanigans]

It's progress I suppose?

[@starlight5229]

@@AutoShenanigans I disagree to a large extent but my views on this are too in depth and long winded to get into on a light hearted 'SoM' jolly 🙂👍🏻

[@maceyevo]

Excellent

[@scottc1589]

Talk about timing. Coincidently I'm sitting at home in Virginia watching this but was at Pollok Country Park only 5 days ago visiting the Burrell Collection and the highland coos and their calves. It's very odd to see the place on a KZbin channel that I've been subscribed to for a while.

[@ColinChick]

Another wicked-sweet-awesome episode; living about as far away from the A77 as is humanly possible (and never likely to close that gap), I still get overly excited when a new SOTM pops up on the feed. Thanks for the entertainment!

[@jobbiejew]

I live only a few miles from the south end of the M77. I’ve had 3 cars literally detonate their engines on me as I approached junction 7. That junction is fuggin cursed! I never pass it on lane 2 southbound anymore because of the curse.

[@roderickmain9697]

Fascinating stuff Jon. Filling in stuff that I didnt know about. The Burrell collection is well worth a visit (so my wife tells me - she's been!). Technologically speking, the building is quite clever keeping the insides at a defined temperture and humidity throughout the year. A few years ago when we were looking to move back to Scotland, we looked around many places and there are so many new houses being built. It was hard not to wonder what was going on. Where was the business the people who would live in these new hosing estates would be employed at. I cam to the conclusion it must be some secret space port hidden from view. Nobody is telling - but then it wouldnt be a secret if they did.

[@GPOTOM]

Before the mid 00’s extension the northern part of the A77 was a narrow dual carriageway with no central reservation, just a pair or white lines separating the outside lane of one side from traffic speeding down the outside lane of the other. Occasionally you’d see vehicles go onto the wrong side of the road to overtake two lanes of traffic on their side. Combine this with the unrelenting weather on Fenwick Moor and you can see why the road was a terrifying experience! The new M77 was a considerable improvement and it could be argued that the A77 to Ayr should be upgraded to the same standard to improve safety.

[@Tez_Thorn1405]

Passes through Pollok Country Park, sounds like a load of polloks to me

[@andrewjambo1]

Pollok

[@ChimpManZ1264]

​@@andrewjambo1Not like the fish then

[@CmG1005]

It does actually pass through the park. There is an entrance on the west side of the motorway off corkerhill road.

[@Tez_Thorn1405]

@@CmG1005 it was a joke

[@ThatGuyThanus]

There’s only one!

[@MrBreadman1966]

I like the outro music, some people of a certain age will remember the tune is from the STV soap "Take The High Road"

[@harviemilligan1887]

Another interesting motorway video! I recall driving from Ayr to Lanarkshire in the 90s, when J1 to J5 was open but the section on to J8 hadn't been built. You could either turn right towards Eaglesham across two lanes of southbound traffic with a very short waiting lane (the road this led to has been bypassed by the new A726 Glasgow Southern Orbital road from J5 to East Kilbride), or you could stay on the A77 and then plunge down the hill on the M77 and then onto the M8. It used to annoy the hell out of me that the speed limit was 70 from Ayr on the dual carriageway without central barrier A77, 60 on the single carriageway death trap A77, then 50 on the M77 with hard shoulders and central barriers. Not having an electric car which would at least put some charge in the battery, it still annoys me as I have to brake going downhill towards J3 to keep to 50.

[@DavidRGray]

Nice to end on the Take the High Road theme. It’s up their with the Crown Court theme for 70’s bunking off school nostalgia.

[@SirReginaldBlomfield1234]

Thanks, saved me from mental distemper trying to remember where I heard that years ago.

[@David_Crayford]

So that's why I never saw it!

[@davidhall7744]

At last! My local motorway! 😀🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@ronin_gthayc3020]

As always great job ,so wicked sweet awesome

[@rab9309]

Drive on this motorway practically everyday and never knew any of this. Everyday’s a school day as they say. Great video keep it up!

[@AutoShenanigans]

It's quite nice down at the Fenwick end I thought. I wouldn't want to go into Glasgow during rush hour though

[@rab9309]

@@AutoShenanigans No stay away at rush hour! It can get quite crazy lol

[@WHATSUPWATSON]

Those new housing estates next to the M77 are awful. Supposedly green belt, central Scotland is turning into one big monobloc housing scheme. The one around Newton Mearns costs a premium, the noise from the motorway is deafening no idea why you’d want to buy a house that close to a busy road.

[@uselesseater1584]

I spoke with a resident recently and heard that the builder failed to install noise reduction fencing as agreed and was taken to or threatened with court. It’ll cost a few quid now to install.

[@colingeer479]

I flippin' love Auto Shenanigans! Keep 'em coming John.

[@frazerguest2864]

I do enjoy your witty and informative videos John. They are both wicked, sweet and awesome.

[@stevenwright4102]

Good vid , my Dad worked on that bridge for the farm at at Patterton and some of the other junctions ,years later he was on the M77 extension at south side of the city .

[@ashleesales9318]

Viewers are rising. Pleased to see it. Bloody interesting stuff

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Watching this the day after my father in laws funeral and one place he always visited with his support worker was the Burrell Collection, so this hit home for me and my wife as he always spoke about this place and we wondered where and whst this place was about.

[@rogerduerden373]

Another excellent as well as exciting episode. I'm really enjoying seeing my local motorways getting the Auto Shenanigans treatment! I can tell you're building up to the big one - the M8. Cannae wait!

[@philipknock9134]

Apostrophes. 80s, 90s, 00s. Great videos

[@BenCurrington]

Hi Jon, yes all good thanks. Saw The Chats in Birmingham on Wednesday, that was fun, also caught up with a mate I haven't seen for a while. Just been doing some gardening, seats are out of the Multipla and it's full to the ceiling with green waste to go to the tip! Knackered now so having a quick break, hence watching your video. Anyway enough about me, how the devil are you? Have you had a good week?

[@McRocket]

6:19 - 'a battle over - oh, I dunno...freedom or something'. 🤣 Seems to sum up just about all wars/battles. ☮

[@MrSnout5]

Thanks for this very informative video. I frequently use this motorway and find it gets extremely busy at certain times. When on the southbound carriageway, I often get off at junction 5 and join the old A77 (Ayr Road). It is now a very quiet road with very little traffic and I can drive parallel with the M77 with a much reduced stress level. Eventually at Fenwick the M77 ends and merges with the A77, towards Kilmarnock. I then turn on to the B751 in the direction of Kilmaurs and home town of Irvine.

[@johnmehaffey9953]

That is the road that I had to use getting off the ferry from Stranraer, and I was delighted when the motorway was opened as the A77 went through some high ground and in winter it was difficult, for some reason the motorway gets prioritised over other roads to be kept open not that I’m complaining now, on another note the ferry port at Stranraer has now been moved to cairnryan I don’t know the exact amount of years the ferry link between Stranraer and Larne existed but it was over a hundred years in operation, great post Jon

[@Dan23_7]

I’ve never used this motorway but still found the episode interesting. Which is a plus I suppose. Thanks again John 👍🏼

[@FrazerSmithsChannel]

Thanks John. More Scotland please.

[@DJ-kh3kc]

To answer @KaitlynnUK who 1 month ago (edited) wrote, "I love how the house on the left @4:29 has it own access/slip roads :)" That's my road and it's private. To answer others replying to her, it's not owned by the council. The "cool old truck" Is a Hydrocon Crane, one of three I have. It was the first hydraulic operated crane. Before the first Hydrocon in 1949 cranes were either electric or steam powered. They were built originally in Maryhill docks, then they moved to Burnfield Rd. in Giffnock then to Coatbridge. Summerlee museum is in one the former Hydrocon fabrication sheds and the surrounding housing and industrials estates were part of the factory complex. Mac & Mic do not own Patterton farm. To address some of the points raised in the video, the bridge over the 77 at Patterton was necessary because the M'Way cut the farm into two and it gave the farmer access for a tractor and to get cattle to the other side. Jct 4 is a disgrace and the Police were minded to not grant it a road opening notice but they got their arms severely twisted by the Scottish office. At the public enquiry they sprung on us that Jct3-4 was to be built on fill not cut as planned. It was to the best of my knowledge the only design and build contract for a m'way. Wimpey won the tender for IIRC £24M. The were given the CPO'd land and then were left to design and deliver the M77 hence the weird junctions arrangement at Jct 4 as it was cheaper. There is space behind Waitrose to upgrade it to a badly needed diamond junction which is what it should have been in the first place. There is much more I could reveal but perhaps not as there is none so bitter and twisted than the public sector when their dirty little secrets are revealed. Suffice to say Wimpey jumped before they were pushed by selling the project and others to Tarmac (now Carillion) in a swap for Tarmac's house building division.

[@Dotman-mn8rb]

Great video and really great to see my local motorway discussed - the sliproad at junction 5 always did remain a mystery to me, as I've never seen any car use it and for a while there was a fair amount of rubble on it. Well done on the pronunciation of Fenwick as well. Greetings from North Ayrshire.

[@pallasathena55]

Drove the M77 today!

[@tomgruitt6563]

Extreme!

[@andykilvington1651]

Excellent as always

[@genenomidic1393]

Btw, it’s only magma when it’s underground, lava when above, top vid as usual 👍

[@royfontaine5526]

It would have still been magma as a plug I guess.

[@genenomidic1393]

@@royfontaine5526 but the bit you can see will be lava, so perhaps magma is only hearsay!

[@kildogery]

I do enjoy a to the point, irreverent video about mundane things I'm already acutely familiar with. Thanks.

[@kildogery]

Subscribed.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Welcome along, thanks for watching

[@JimmyCaswell]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

thanks a lot mate!

[@mrdaveh6016]

Didn’t fully watch video last night, watched it this morning. Subs jumped from 92.7 to 93k overnight. Congratulations John.

[@artie2070]

One of the most informative channels on KZbin - genuinely fascinating

[@awilliams4308]

Super vid as always. If you're on your way to cover the M876, make sure to visit the Airth Pineapple!

[@gloomsurvivor]

the spot your standing at on the closed junction 5 slip road was where i had my first car crash, lol

[@AutoShenanigans]

Should the user name not be "survived" ?

[@TerribleFire]

Literally snooping around at the end of my street. Love it

[@donalddodson7365]

Beautiful countryside and good weather. Thank you, Jon.

[@bennevis21]

It's not always sunny in Ayrshire, Scotland but yes it is wonderful countryside indeed

[@52robbo]

As always, very interesting. Also, love the aerial shots, fascinating. Cheers, John.

[@tobyjackman3212]

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

[@AK-fl3nc]

These videos are great!!!! The detail and history is 👌🏻

[@gggggggg3542]

I can remember getting 3 points when coming off at Drumbreck Road because the 30mph sign was behind a tree----- I went to court with some photos, thought to myself it wasn't a 30 (no street lights, no houses, 2 lanes each way) so I was doing 40. Got the points removed.......... result!!!! but that was decades ago

[@AutoShenanigans]

You'd never get away with such (fair) things today.

[@seanrodgers1839]

With more than half of my family from Scotland, I appreciate the hint of bagpipes in the theme music.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Glad to hear :)

[@minchmoorramblers6856]

Wow that was the theme tune to “Take the High Road” at end wasn’t it?

[@Kevmacc1000]

Thank you 😃 Very interesting.

[@rickydub6950]

Another amazing episode and this one even closer to home than last week! M77 is great when its quiet 😁 interesting to see the expansion of housing over time. It is happening all over the local area, East Renfrewshire & Renfrewshire. Sad to see the destruction of green belt 😢

[@SteveW139]

Nice choice of closing music, Jon, very appropriate.

[@harkmannah7432]

Thanks! Really great!!

[@davidhall7744]

And you finished with the theme from Take The High Road 😂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@ruggedscot69]

Missed the unbuilt service station - kingswell which would have been a signle sided affair near the A77 B764 junction, a bit of fear that people would continue to use the B764 as a link through to East Kilbride if the junction was made full access. That B764 was a major route in its time. Junction 8 is wierd.... The motorway actually stops before Junction 8. heading south. Its signed as a motorway but the end of motorway signs appear right before the slip road.

[@jonathonbrett-qn1ic]

Very entertaining episode Thank you

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching!

[@bigturboxr3i]

I recall working in Ayr, Irvine and Kilmarnock between 95 and 2000 odd using the old a77 sections and the new as it was built. That road was crazy most days, 4 lanes and 3 white lines dividing them. Cars and vans passing each other both going 90 mph and no central reservation, no barriers, just a white line between them. The old sections were winding up and down all over the place. Much safer since the lads completed the sections piece by piece as a proper dual lane motorway. Great video as always.

[@AutoShenanigans]

The "good" old days.. I'd like to have experienced it.

[@StewartP45]

Nice to get a different (drone) view of a road fairly local to me along with its history. Have to agree with others-the old A77 was a very poor and hazardous bit of road especially latterly with the traffic volumes it was handling. From memory Patterton Farm was bought out as part of the planned housing developments and the family are still farming having moved to Ayrshire as I recollect.

[@chrisdavidson911]

3:20 housing names being taken from what was previously there, also found in Tamworth where the Reliant factory was. Consett has ignored the steelworks, despite it being pretty much what the place was built around.

[@willtricks9432]

A town painted red is a good book and why would anyone build a town where Consett is unless there is money in it.

[@chrisdavidson911]

@@willtricks9432 why not? take a look around

[@Denis.-1]

I enjoy watching your videos. I hope to see more

[@CrazyMMG]

Great one as always Jon!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot!

[@Tankurface]

Glasgow!!! YAAASSSS! Love it, you should have added a little bit extra to this video as theres a section of the M74 which is a stones throw away from where you shot one of the aerial drone clips where the M74 "slip road" from the M8 just stops. ( Kingston Bridge )

[@AutoShenanigans]

M8 episode ;)

[@johnsim3722]

The Newton Mearns to Fenwick link only got approved when someone who worked for one of the Labour politicians got killed near Fenwick. As the A77 you had to cross over two lanes of traffic if you wanted to turn off to the right. No slip roads, just junctions. The remaining A77 is still dangerous but a change of Scottish government mean that further "improvements" were limited to putting in speed cameras. SNP to blame for that, but still a couple of police officers got killed on the road very late one night crashing into another vehicle. Crossing points were finally closed, something that has always helped road safety (as it did on the A78 for Kilwinning) and two overpasses constructed to keep the connections. SNP cancelled all road improvements that hadn't already started on the A9. SNP also promised to dual all of the A9 by 2025, but for the majority of that road the only "improvements" have been, you guessed it, speed cameras. They've only done 11 miles with another 77 still to go. They've blamed the pandemic, economic slowdown, and the war in Ukraine. All fairly recent events. SNP is also responsible for the LEZ in Glasgow. One which another KZbinr pointed out isn't needed because with the busses cleaned up all their targets have been met for clean air. SNP doesn't like motorists.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I dislike those A9 cameras, however they're installed because of people like me...

[@johnsim3722]

@@AutoShenanigans People who overtake slow moving HGVs? That was the problem. Then the police came out with a statement that 97% of HGVs were breaking the speed limit. Although it was a 60mph road for cars, it was 40mph for HGVs. And that disparity would only frustrate and cause huge queues of traffic behind slow moving HGVs. SNP is now the problem with their promised dualing of the road by 2025 never going to happen. And the abuse I got from SNP supporters when I said I doubted that would happen! It's a cult that doesn't like reality. I'm quite sure more of the road would have been done by now had they not got in to power and cancelled all planned projects and upgrades.

[@Hugh-S]

There's no bloody way you played an orchestral version of the Take the High Road theme at the end... Instantly subscribed haha. Laughed way too hard at that.

[@AutoShenanigans]

hehe, I did exactly that :D

[@Chimp_No_1]

Really interesting ! Thanks !

[@paulparkes7761]

Really appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos, they're wicked sweet awesome! Also, it's really nice how you blend the before/after maps 🙂

[@NeillWylie]

Great video about where I grew up

[@kevinkvs9746]

I used to cycle up and down the m77 while being built collecting glass cheques from the builders, me and my mate made a small fortune back in the 90s 👍🏻🤣

[@adrianrutterford762]

Thanks for another wicked sweet awesome video.

[@AdeReeves]

Every days a learning day...today...plugs ! 👍

[@dcvariousvids8082]

Another great presentation - info about past & present, plus humour. Thank you.

[@Kefuddle]

It really looked like that blue car was going to drive off the roundabout and straight across the motorway!

[@Andrewjg_89]

The M77 Motorway in Scotland could of extend right into Kilmarnock if plans were to extend the M77 close to Kilmarnock. But as you said the M77 motorway ends at Fenwick few miles north of Kilmarnock. And is a ideal local motorway connecting Glasgow with Kilmarnock. I do believe that the M77 motorway would of gone straight into Kilmarnock if the extension did happen. And yes the Spirit of Scotland structure is a absolute masterpiece that represents Scotland which I have to say it does look marvellous.

[@fatkev1983]

I am surprised they never upgraded that last stretch beyond Fenwick. I am not familiar enough with what would need to be upgraded, but it mostly seems like its just about there and no crazy right turns across oncoming traffic... obviously after Kilmarnock you used to get the Dundonald and Symmington turnings, but those are now overpasses too. I am surprised he didn't talk about the stretch of the road where the M77 and A77 run parallel - handy if there is an accident on the M77 along there.

[@rsdotscot]

My old man worked on the M77 extension in the '90s as a clerk of works. We lost him a year and a half ago :(

[@rochellehewston9367]

Great one again John. Interesting the junction designs, some one fresh out of University came up with these, I wonder if they accept they could have been much better, probably not

[@MrGreatplum]

Gosh, those housing estates are without character! Great video though - loving the history, geography, urban planning etc.

[@ADJLfanatic52]

(Interstate) 77 is my local highway number here in the United States.

[@geecars6263]

Fun facts: the roundabout originally at the start of the M77 had Park's Austin Rover dealership just off it, styled as "Park on the Roundabout". During construction of the section through Pollok Park in 1995 the local Tory MP, Allan Stewart committed career suicide by brandishing a pick axe at a group protesting the road's construction.

[@toritori4430]

When they just finnished the sputhern part of the m77 we drove up it to glasgow , one of only abt ten vehicles that morning and works were still ongoing at one part

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks alot

[@hublanderuk]

Good video as always