The reasons against the project are many and well-aired over the 40 years the scheme has hung over the area like an executioner's axe. They can be read in the Public Local Inquiry report (available at  http://scotland.indymedia.org/media/all/display/3951, but not on the project's official website).

This week's developments. The admitted cost has risen by 30%, to £650 million. £200M has already been spent acquiring land on the route, including from Labour millionaire Willie Haughey's City Refrigeration. Some of this was spent before the scheme was approved. The road is going to be paid for by central taxation and from Glasgow & East Dunbartonshire council tax payers.

With only one bidder and one contract, cost overruns aren't a surprise. What's new is that the road is now being touted as essential to the Commonwealth Games in 2014. There's a couple of things wrong with this. Glasgow's winning bid said that the infrastructure was already in place.

More obviously mendacious, though, are the claims that they were set to be "the public transport games", a line of bullshit happily parroted by the Evening Times. The Subway was to be extended East, there'd be a new railway station and free buses for visitors. Expect to hear very little of that in the future now they've got their road.

Most intriguing of all is Alex Salmond's bid for more Lottery money for the games, to ensure their "legacy effect". He wants £150M, which just happens to be the (current) overspend on the M74 extension. Just a coincidence that this comes the day after the single-bidder contract was signed?

Don't expect to hear much of this from the craven hacks at Glasgow's newspapers. The Herald greets the road with "a chorus of approval", not seeing fit to speak to a single southsider. Getting away with a 30% overspend against tightened budgets and the evidence from a PLI is indeed quite a feat. Not an admirable one though.

There are journalists there who know their papers' support for the road is self-serving bullshit.Will they step forward? Two reasons why not:

* The Herald & Evening Times have a large depot positioned at the end of the M74
* Their parent group, Newsquest, keeps making noises about needing to cut costs. Will it be journalists, or will it be slightly quicker distribution west of the city?

The whole saga exemplifies the farce of "representative"democracy. All major political parties are in thrall to the business interests promoting this road. All the evidence points against the road, but the people who will be directly affected are the poor, the old and the ill , the least able to speak out for their interests (The PLI noted a street of sheltered housing and two hostels on the route.) Who represents them? They count for nothing against the CBI, the Chamber of Commerce and suburban commuters.

Later this week there should be another article, laying out who is pushing, building and benefiting from the road.


SOURCES

"Games go car free", 9th October 2007.  http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.1745745.0.games_go_carfree.php
"Salmond launches quest for for £150 million Commonwealth Games funding", 15th February 2008,  http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Salmond-launches-quest-for-150.3783334.jp
"60 years and £650m in making, M74 link is reality at last", 15th February 2008,  http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2046566.0.60_years_and_650m_in_making_M74_link_is_reality_at_last.php
PLI Conclusions:  http://scotland.indymedia.org/media/all/display/3951