1959 One-inch Seventh Series (10-colour)
The area as it was before the motorways arrived. The Monklands Canal runs E-W through the extract, while the top left of the extract is just clipped by the railway tunnel running in to Buchanan Street Station.
The A8 comes in from the east and turns south past the Infirmary, and the A803 runs north from it along Castle Street. The A804 leads west into the city centre - past a church with spire that is a feature of many of these maps.
1968 One-inch Seventh Series (7-colour)
Just 3 years after publication of the Glasgow Highway Plan, and the first part of the Inner Ring Road is already shown on the map.
The Townhead junction is shown as a simple half-diamond and a single long viaduct (with the carriageways staying close together). This is a gross over-simplification: The 1973 map better shows the position when the motorway opened in 1968.
The 1968 motorway terminated with an end-on connection with the A8: All A8 traffic had to use the junction - which means that the easternmost part couldn't have been motorway at this time. It's possible that none was opened as motorway - early photos show white signs.
The A804 is shown unchanged, but its eastern terminus is obscured under the motorway bridge. In fact it leads under the motorway and meets with the A803 just to the north of the junction - shown as unclassified.
The Baird Street overbridge, to the west of the junction, is shown complete with its familiar kink, which will become more and more distorted as the maps are revised.
1973 One-inch Seventh Series (7-colour)
Just five years later, and the motorway is correctly shown with split carriageways and an exit/entry from the A804, now on Kennedy Street. The two-way sliproad with hard shoulder on the outside of the bend was on what became the eastbound exit.
The A804 still finishes on the A803 to the north of the junction, but also has a direct link at the south of the junction - and loops north to the Baird Street bridge over the motorway. This is obviously a time of great transition, with an A-class road going nowhere.
1983 1:50,000 Second Series (atlas colouring)
Ten years later, and the M8 has been extended to the east along the line of the Monkland Canal, and the split carriageways are finally shown correctly.
The A804 now has its new line along Baird Street, and a completely new A8 now runs along the south side the motorway to the junction with Castle Street. There's a new motorway exit onto the A8, in addition to the earlier exit to Castle Street, which is now shown as a much more elongated ramp.
To the east of the junction, a second eastbound ramp is shown emerging from under the M8 and merging with the ramp from Castle Street - although it's not going to be open for several years! The matching ramp from the westbound M8 descending to pass under Castle Street must also be present at this time, but is squeezed off the map between the new A8 and the Castle Street exit.
The inner west-facing ramps on the M8 are still shown open, ending on the now unclassified Kennedy St.
1985 1:50,000 Second Series
The new A803 route is now open, but shown only as single carriageway, and finishing on the A8 at its northwesternmost point. The A803/A804 junction is completed to the north - it's a folded diamond.
The loop from the southbound A803 to the westbound M8 is also shown for the first time, as is the eastbound exit to the northbound A803. For the first time the junction has two exits in each direction.
The inner west-facing ramps on the M8 now terminate with a T-junction on the new A803.
Perhaps significant, but the southern end of A803 Castle Street appears slightly further east than on previous maps - already moved onto a new line with two underpasses ready for the future sliproads.
1988 1:50,000 Second Series
A new survey, the first since 1973! The church with spire has finally been demolished, as has the block to the south - clearing the way for completion of the junction.
The area to the southwest of the junction has already been redeveloped and the streetplan is considerably changed.
2002 1:50,000 Second Series
The junction almost as it is today. but there are still a couple of simple mistakes with this map:
The A803 dual carriageway through the intersection is only shown as a single carriageway - and part of it to the north of the M8 is missing colour altogether. The sliproad from the eastbound M8 to the northbound A803 actually stays as a separate carriageway (and as motorway!) until it crosses the exit from the northbound A803 to the A804.
And the first westbound exit from the M8 is still shown as a short ramp onto the A8 to the east of the Infirmary. The present exit is shown, uncoloured between the A8 and the the A803 Castle Street exit. Beyond Castle St, it picks up the correct colouring.
The Pathfinder map is the one with the very poor colouring. On all but a handful of Pathfinder sheets, all roads were coloured orange, so that's normal. However, four of the roads through the junction manage to lead under bridges and fail to emerge at the other side - compare with the much improved version on the Explorer sheet.
Two small details on the Explorer sheet link right back to the earliest of the one-inch maps above:
- The top left of the sheet is just clipped by the old railway tunnel,
still shown even though both portals have been buried.
- And the pedestrian underpass under Castle Street immediately south of the Baird Street junction is is an old wrought-iron bridge - it's actually the bridge built to carry the road over the Monklands Canal, now surfaced and opened to pedestrians.
