page_title: M8 Bridge to Nowhere
section_title: Anderston Footbridge
hierarchical_section_title: M8 Bridge to Nowhere / Anderston Footbridge
caption_attribution_description: English: Model of the M8 Glasgow Inner Ring Road - image generated to show the intended course of the Anderston Pedestrian Footbridge, abandoned in 1971.
context_page_description: Bridge to Nowhere is a nickname used to refer to various unfinished structures around the M8 motorway in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. They were built in the 1960s as part of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road project but left incomplete for several years. One 'bridge', at Charing Cross, was completed in the 1990s as an office block. The Anderston Footbridge, a pedestrian bridge south of St Patrick's church, was finally completed in 2013 as part of a walking and cycling route.
  A third 'Bridge to Nowhere' was created in 2008 following the demolition of a hotel a few blocks away from the M8 but its remains were finally removed in 2017.
context_section_description: The Anderston Footbridge, 600 m (660 yd) south of the Charing Cross Podium, was originally planned as the main pedestrian connection between the new housing estates on the western side of the motorway to the Anderston Cross Commercial Centre but the size of the latter development was scaled back in size – meaning that the bridge terminated in mid-air above the vacant land, which was eventually built upon in 1981 when a Holiday Inn hotel (nowadays the Glasgow Marriott) was constructed on the site.
    
  As a highly visible structure, it assumed the title of 'Bridge to Nowhere' from the Charing Cross Podium after that was built on and lost its bridge-like appearance.
  A proposal by charity Sustrans, under their national Connect2 programme, aimed to finish the construction, as well as connecting the bridge with a second one over the Clydeside Expressway. This should increase pedestrian and cycle access to central Glasgow on a route between Kelvingrove Park and the city centre. Sustrans won the funding in September 2011 – work to finally complete the bridge began in 2012 and was completed by July 2013.
caption: Architect's model from the 1960s of the uncompleted section of the Anderston Centre and the M8 Motorway showing the intended course of the bridge. The red circle shows where the bridge construction was abandoned. The present day Marriott and Hilton hotels now stand on this site.
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