BEAR Scotland is thanking motorists for adapting their travel plans during recent major road works on the M8 near Polkemmet, as traffic figures show up to 39% of road users avoided the route while eastbound traffic was restricted to a single lane.

The roads maintenance company, which looks after trunk roads in the South East of Scotland on behalf of Transport Scotland, had warned motorists to expect long delays and consider alternative routes such as the M80 and M9. This message was publicised in a campaign of radio advertising, motorway signage, press releases and social media posts.

Traffic figures show eastbound traffic was down 35% compared to average on Monday 12 May, and down 39% on Tuesday 13 May.

Westbound traffic was only down 6%, suggesting that many drivers heeded BEAR’s advice to use an alternative route when travelling eastbound.

Tommy Deans, BEAR Scotland’s South East Network Manager, said: “We’re really grateful to members of the public for helping to make these major works a success.

“While delays were still significant, they would have been a lot worse if there had been normal levels of traffic on the M8 eastbound.

“Having the contraflow in place for several days allowed us to complete a very deep and comprehensive renewal of the road surface over 1.25 kilometres of carriageway. The works have a design life of 20 years, so users of the M8 will benefit from this in the longer term.

“Thank you to everyone who adapted their plans.”