New M8 junction fully open at weekend

M8 road users will be able to use to the route’s newest junction from this weekend.

4a Heartlands will open early on Saturday morning (14 September 2013) giving access to the Heartlands Development at Whitburn and providing easier access to the M8 from the Whitburn area.

The junction and its supporting works are the first developer led and financed full motorway junction on the Scottish network costing around £12 million. The Royal Bank of Scotland is funding the Heartlands development, through Ecosse Regeneration and Land Options (West) Limited, including the total costs of the construction of the new junction.

In order to fully open the new junction in a controlled manner the contractor will unveil the new signs, remove hard shoulder closures and then open the new slip roads.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said:

“This junction will help improve access to the Whitburn area and roads users in the surrounding area will benefit from it.

“The developers have done everything possible throughout the construction process to keep disruption for road users to a minimum and we would like to thank people for their patience during the work.

“The good news is that the traffic management systems will be removed gradually from Friday evening onwards to allow Junction 4a Heartlands to be fully open for use early on Saturday. This process is being carried out overnight to avoid delays but as always real-time journey planning information can be obtained by visiting www.trafficscotland.org”