The Bridge to Nowhere

For a while now I’ve been wondering what the story is behind this structure over the M8. I went asking at the council, and the helpful Marco Bardelli got back to me in record time with the following…

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Subject: RE: Odd footbridge in Anderston
From: “Bardelli, Marco”

Thanks for your email. The footbridge which is now in the ownership of the Scottish executive has never been open to pedestrians. As far as I am aware it was designed to link up with some never-completed phase of the Anderston Centre and I presume connect to Waterloo Street, as you suggest.

Some time after the motorway was opened a small steel footbridge was built to allow pedestrians to cross North Street near Anderston Cross and even more recently this was superseded by a pelican crossing. All this would have been avoided if only they had finished the footbridge to nowhere…….
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It’s always interesting to hear about the urban history. Whether it’s something as mundane as a closed footbridge, to disused railway stations under busy thoroughfares.