• Motorway fully reopened following bridge strike near Harthill

The westbound carriageway of the M8 between Junctions 4A and 5 has fully reopened after Transport Scotland’s operating company BEAR Scotland worked through the night to complete emergency repairs to a bridge over the motorway that had been struck by an HGV.

Traffic on the M8 was initially restricted to a single lane yesterday afternoon while engineers assessed the extent of damage, and then a full carriageway closure was put in place overnight to allow emergency repairs to be completed.

Significant damage had been caused to the steel framework of the bridge, with several structural cross beams detached by the force of the impact. These beams had to be re-welded and bolted, and four new beams were installed to provide additional support.

Motorists had been warned to expect continuing lane closures and delays on Wednesday morning, however repairs were completed sooner than anticipated and the M8 was fully reopened by 5am.

David Bishop, BEAR Scotland’s South East Bridges Manager, said: “This bridge over the M8 had suffered significant structural damage and needed to be made safe before the carriageway below could be fully reopened to traffic.

“The team has done a magnificent job to assess the damage, come up with an emergency repair solution to make it safe, and then implement that solution, all within about 15 hours.

“Further work will be required in the future to repair the extensive damage to the main edge beam, however this will be a longer-term process requiring structural assessment and design of complex steelwork repairs before the works can be planned and mobilised.

“Until then, traffic loading on the damaged beam will be reduced by installing a temporary vehicle barrier on the B718 local road over the bridge, with temporary traffic lights remaining in place in the meantime.

“We’re grateful to motorists for their patience and understanding while these emergency repairs were completed.”

The driver of the vehicle that struck the bridge did not stop or report the incident. Anyone with dashcam footage or relevant information is encouraged to contact Police Scotland or BEAR Scotland.