Secrets of The Motorway - M77
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- Опубліковано 27 тра 2023
- #infrastructure #motorway #scotland
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Back in Scotland this week to look at the M77 motorway that runs from Glasgow to Fenwick. In Scotland. There's abandoned roads, motorway junctions and volcanoes!
In this series we aim to explore what our motorway network is hiding. As we drive along at 70mph..ish...we simply just wouldn't be aware of what we're missing. This series aims to uncover some of the hidden secrets our motorways have to offer. - Авто та транспорт
History, geography, urban planning and a motorway! What a great addition to a Sunday.
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.
Caused quite a number of deaths. Only when one was a worker for a politician was it decided to improve the road.
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.
@@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.
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!
Sounds like the A9 as current
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
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!
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.
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.
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
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
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!
As someone who uses the M77 all the time I found this informative and I’m impressed that you pronounced Fenwick properly.
I live in Fenwick so found this episode especially interesting.
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)
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.
Get Tae Fenwick!
Possibly helped by his Northamptonshire residence as there is a village in the county called Stanwick pronounced without the W too.
I love how the house on the left @4:29 has it own access/slip roads :)
Wonder who owns it, the house or the council?
@@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
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
@KaitlynnUK For historical accuracy I have answered your question and some of the others in my comment 30/6/23
Passes through Pollok Country Park, sounds like a load of polloks to me
Pollok
@@andrewjambo1Not like the fish then
It does actually pass through the park. There is an entrance on the west side of the motorway off corkerhill road.
@@CmG1005 it was a joke
There’s only one!
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!
Remember that.
And I remembered as well the MP for Eastwood Allan Stewart turning up to meet with the protesters with his son carrying a shotgun
A stunt that ended his political career forever.
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!
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.
This is still the preamble to the main event of the M8, I hope. Bonkers decision splitting Glasgow in two with a motorway right through the middle
Insanity. Destroyed so much of the city and ironed in cad dependany to its heart
As John explains in his M8 video, it was part of plans for a Motorway around the whole city centre. It dates back to the days when Inner city Motorways seemed a good idea.
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 ☹️
It's progress I suppose?
@@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 🙂👍🏻
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.....
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.
yep that road was super sketchy back then
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.
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
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 😆
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
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.
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.
Starting the Sunday afternoon right with some Motorway action.
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.
Brilliant as usual.
If you look really closely you can see a couple of fields they haven’t yet built houses on…
With more than half of my family from Scotland, I appreciate the hint of bagpipes in the theme music.
Glad to hear :)
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
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.
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.
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 UA-cam channel that I've been subscribed to for a while.
I like the outro music, some people of a certain age will remember the tune is from the STV soap "Take The High Road"
And you finished with the theme from Take The High Road 😂🏴
Wow, the "Take the High Road" theme took me right back to simpler times. Wicked, Sweet, Awesome!
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.
@@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. 👍
It really looked like that blue car was going to drive off the roundabout and straight across the motorway!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Btw, it’s only magma when it’s underground, lava when above, top vid as usual 👍
It would have still been magma as a plug I guess.
@@royfontaine5526 but the bit you can see will be lava, so perhaps magma is only hearsay!
I use the M77 every (week) day. It is a bloody nightmare 😩
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.
Thanks, saved me from mental distemper trying to remember where I heard that years ago.
So that's why I never saw it!
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.
Apostrophes. 80s, 90s, 00s. Great videos
At last! My local motorway! 😀🏴
2.08 The Burrell Collection. I heard of this but having been in the construction industry I'm more curious about the building. When it was built in the 1970s it was hailed as the most innovative piece of architecture of the decade but when they moved in they found it leaked like sieve and due to its innovative design was almost impossible to maintain.
Obviously it's many years since I read anything about it. The last I heard 40 years ago was they were trying to get hold of the architect who had done a disappearing act
For what it's worth when I was there a few months ago there were maybe one or two buckets out collecting leaks 🤔 thought that was a bit bad for a museum. Lovely building though, compliments the park as a place of serenity in Glasgow (with the red sandstone).
That's wrong. The building and the collection were first opened to the public in 1983 and the building won awards etc. Fast forward to 2016 (33 years) and the building was shut for refurbishment. Yes the leaking roof was one of the issues. In 2022 the building and collection was reopened to great acclaim etc.
@@drewmurphy139please see my comment for the facts about the Burrell. Source - I used to live nearby.
Wow that was the theme tune to “Take the High Road” at end wasn’t it?
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
You'd never get away with such (fair) things today.
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.
Nice choice of closing music, Jon, very appropriate.
I do enjoy a to the point, irreverent video about mundane things I'm already acutely familiar with.
Thanks.
Subscribed.
Welcome along, thanks for watching
(Interstate) 77 is my local highway number here in the United States.
Lawd mi mercy! Dis ya man really a di masta of dem asphalt rivers, seen? Di way mi soak up di history of dem roads, mi nearly buss wid joy! Hats off, mi bredda, yuh dun di place!
Excellent
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?
Thanks! Really great!!
Excellent as always
the spot your standing at on the closed junction 5 slip road was where i had my first car crash, lol
Should the user name not be "survived" ?
Informative as always, thanks John
As always great job ,so wicked sweet awesome
Viewers are rising. Pleased to see it. Bloody interesting stuff
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 )
M8 episode ;)
I flippin' love Auto Shenanigans! Keep 'em coming John.
Thank you 😃 Very interesting.
These videos are great!!!! The detail and history is 👌🏻
Really interesting ! Thanks !
Great one as always Jon!
Thanks a lot!
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.
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.
Can't wait til you get to the M8 and its insane sliproads on the RIGHT
Thanks John. More Scotland please.
As always, very interesting. Also, love the aerial shots, fascinating. Cheers, John.
This is the best video I've ever seen about anything
Literally snooping around at the end of my street. Love it
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 :(
I wish I knew you were around - I live further down on the A77 itself and would've made you a coffee.
I do enjoy your witty and informative videos John.
They are both wicked, sweet and awesome.
Another great presentation - info about past & present, plus humour. Thank you.
Thanks for another wicked sweet awesome video.
Very entertaining episode
Thank you
Nice one, thanks for watching!
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!
One of the most informative channels on UA-cam - genuinely fascinating
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 🙂
Cool video and nice musical ending 😎”Take the High Road” 😄
Unused junction 5 is currently under some sort of construction 🎉😮
always find your video's interesting and informative john regarding the history of the area's the motorways went through and how they have changed over the decades.
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!
It's quite nice down at the Fenwick end I thought. I wouldn't want to go into Glasgow during rush hour though
@@AutoShenanigans No stay away at rush hour! It can get quite crazy lol
Drove the M77 today!
I worked on the M77 Malletsheugh Jct 5 to Jct 8 in 2005 and let me tell you Fenwick Moor in the middle of winter is not a place you wanna be BRRRRRRR! 🥶
Beautiful countryside and good weather. Thank you, Jon.
It's not always sunny in Ayrshire, Scotland but yes it is wonderful countryside indeed
I use the M77 daily. I absolutely hate it! - 50mph for most of it and only 2 lanes and its inclines mean slow lorries…
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.
I’ve never used this motorway but still found the episode interesting.
Which is a plus I suppose.
Thanks again John 👍🏼
I enjoy watching your videos. I hope to see more
That's what she said... :(
Needed to practice rewind and pause a few times to catch that snippet of useful information.
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 😢
Thanks
Jon, is there a story that goes with the massive Cowglen site? General madness, cult CEO, preparedness for nuclear war? Great ep, wonderful cinematic majestic shot to finish .. cheers!!
Not that i know of mate... it seems they just moved out.
I hate the M77, not because if I’m on it I’m heading to the in laws, but because it is just a traffic jam much of the day. It’s Glasgow section (from Silverburn to the M8) is built massively under capacity to the standards of a rural motorway, and the entrance to it where 4 lanes (2 from each of the M8 and M74) are condensed to 2 is a manufacturing facility for road rage. The wife thinks I’m off my trolley for preferring to drive through East Kilbride to get from our home in rural South Lanarkshire to her family in East Renfrewshire, rather than use the M77.
It does have one benefit in its favour. On the section through Pollok Park, it’s common to see Deer grazing on the large grassy embankments. Not ideal for a motorway, but still nice to see.
I did find a few deer or two hiding on the motorway verges, I did think there's nothing to stop them running across the carriageway.
6:19 - 'a battle over - oh, I dunno...freedom or something'.
🤣
Seems to sum up just about all wars/battles.
☮
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
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
Super vid as always. If you're on your way to cover the M876, make sure to visit the Airth Pineapple!
What happened to the final part of the M6. The last video stopped at Warrington yet I believe the motorway goes all the way up to Carlisle
Great video about where I grew up
Didn’t fully watch video last night, watched it this morning. Subs jumped from 92.7 to 93k overnight. Congratulations John.
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 .