Approval for £2m transport interchange at Motherwell

Work on a new transport interchange at Motherwell railway station will start early next year after approval was given for the £2 million project and Balfour Beatty was appointed to carry out the work.The Glasgow City Region City Deal project on Muir Street will improve access to the station and create more space for buses and taxis, as well as environmental works to the area.A new access road will be created from the roundabout at the north of Hamilton Road, behind the buildings on the left of Hamilton Road and Muir Street, to join the existing road in front of the station. This will create a new taxi rank for the station and additional capacity on Muir Street for buses. A new footpath, disabled parking bays and a drop off/pick up point at the station entrance will also be built.This will complement the work currently underway at the railway station by ScotRail, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Transport Scotland to deliver an enhanced station forecourt and building with a glazed roof and brighter, larger concourse, improved ticket and retail sales facilities, and refurbished customer toilets and waiting facilities.Now in the third phase of its redevelopment, work is currently underway to extend the station forecourt and internal concourse area, and a new customer lounge area between platform 2 and platform 3 is set to open later this month.As part of the contract, Balfour Beatty will provide work experience opportunities, a careers event and site visit, and contributions towards local community projects. The company has also committed to using local small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) for a proportion of materials and services and to involve a social enterprise in the project.The project is expected to be complete by July 2022.