Connect2

back

email page

Connect2 – Help Complete the 'Bridge to Nowhere'

Voting is now closed and Glasgow has won!

Latest Update

Glasgow has won the £1 million lottery grant to complete the bridge, thanks to everyone who has helped and voted for Sustrans Connect2.

About the Bridge to Nowhere

The M8 Anderston footbridge was originally planned as the main pedestrian route over the Motorway to link into the Anderston shopping centre. However, it was never completed and subsequently became the iconic 'Bridge to Nowhere'.

Completing the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ would help link the communities on either side of the motorway, allowing pedestrians, wheelchair users and cyclists to travel directly and without traffic between the city centre, the Clyde riverside promenades, Kelvingrove Park and the West End. Glasgow City Council is developing proposals to complete the bridge and build the linking traffic free routes by bidding for funding through ‘Connect2’.

Road to Nowhere location map

What is Connect2 ?

Connect2 is an exciting UK-wide project led by Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity and responsible for the UK’s National Cycle Network. It aims to improve local travel in 79 communities by creating new walking and cycling routes for the local journeys we all make every day.
By building bridges and new crossings over barriers such as busy roads, rivers and railway lines, Connect2 will connect people to the places they want to go. Each crossing will link to a network of walking and cycling routes, taking you to your schools, shops, work and green spaces.

Lottery Funding

Connect2 is one of four projects competing for a single, £50million pound grant from the Big Lottery Fund’s 'Living Landmarks: The People’s Millions' competition.

During the 1st week of December 2007 short TV programmes screened on ITV1 to describe each of the competing projects. Connect2 and the “Bridge to Nowhere” was shown on Tuesday the 4th December. The public were then be invited to vote for their favourite project with the winner being announced on ITV shortly after the vote.

Glasgow’s scheme to complete the Bridge to Nowhere is just one of 79 projects across the whole of the UK which form part of the wider Sustrans Connect2 bid. Connect2 is unique amongst the four projects competing for the peoples millions as it features projects across the entire United Kingdom, and is the only project that will have direct benefits in Scotland.

Bridge To Nowhere

Who was Connect2 competing against?

The Sustrans Connect2 bid, and the Bridge to Nowhere, faced some strong competition from five projects which included household names:

The Eden project who plan to build a new dome
Sherwood Forest’s Living Legend Project
The Black Country Consortium’s “A Million People – The Black Country as an Urban Park

Progress so far

Winning The People’s Millions competition will be the first step in completing the Anderston Bridge.
A Local Steering Group has been formed to ensure the views of the community are given priority in the design of the bridge and its links. Watch this website for more information.

In addition, conceptual design work on the links to and from the bridge is underway and a structural assessment of the bridge itself has been completed.