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Forth and Clyde Canal (site of Cloberhill Opening Bridge)

Great Western Road, City of Glasgow (Dumbartonshire).

Former culvert on the line of the Forth and Clyde Canal passing under Great Western Road. Constructed on the site of Cloberhill Opening Bridge.

The Cloberhill Opening Bridge was built in 1930 to carry Great Western Road over the canal. It operated from 1930 until the closure of the canal in the 1960s when the canal was closed.

The new neighbourhoods built following World War II, north and south of the canal, were separated by the 1930s road with slightly more affluence in Knightswood and poverty and dereliction in Drumchapel. The towpath may not have given much access but the bridge at least slowed the traffic a little. Without the bridge the road became even more of a barrier.

Following the closure of the canal, the narrowing of the road at the bridge was seen as an unnecessary restriction and the duel carriage way which had been built east and west of the bridge was then made continuous. Water from the canal was still allowed to flow but only through a low level culvert from above the locks at Blairdardie Road. Although the infilled canal was landscaped to form a small park at the foot of high flats, the new roadway formed a significant barrier as even pedestrian heading from Knightswood to Drumchapel (or vice versa) had to climb up to the new dual carriageway before crossing the busy road.

The reopening of the canal c. 2000 meant that two new fixed bridges were built (one for each carriageway). The new bridges had restricted headroom but restored navigation to the canal which to keep water flowing during construction was rebuilt on a slightly different alignment. The culvert was removed after the canal rewatered.

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: Cloberhill Opening Bridge was on Great Western Road, east of Blairdardie, about 300 m SW of the earlier Cloberhill Bridge (a fixed bridge over the canal).

Parallel to the canal culvert was another culvert built 1930 for the Garscadden Burn.

Hydrographic Feeds: Forth and Clyde Canal

Hydrographic Resurgences: Forth and Clyde Canal