26 April 2012 Last updated at 15:42 ET

New £25m Clyde Gateway road opens in Glasgow

Phase one of the road was opened at Oatlands in April 2007

A new £25m road linking the M74 in Glasgow to several Commonwealth Games sites has opened to traffic.

The 2.6km Clyde Gateway links Oatlands and the M74 junction at Polmadie to Celtic Park, the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and Athletes' Village.

Glasgow City Council, which funded the route, said it would help transport some 18,000 athletes and support staff as well as spectators during the games.

Work on the road began in April 2010. It opened on Thursday night.

The carriageway is part of a three-phase development to improve road infrastructure in the east end of the city.

Phase one opened in April 2007 as part of the development of new housing in the Oatlands area and was officially re-named as New Rutherglen Road.

'New opportunities'

Phase two - opened on Thursday - is the longest section of the road, crossing the Clyde at Rutherglen Bridge and passing Dalmarnock Railway Station, the Commonwealth Arena and Celtic Park before joining the Parkhead by-pass at the Forge Retail Park.

Phase three will run from the Parkhead Bypass to the M8. This section will be developed after the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Brian Devlin, executive director at Glasgow City Council's Land and Environmental Services, said: "The Clyde Gateway creates a new, direct link between the completed M74 and the heart of Glasgow's east end.

"This will offer fantastic new opportunities for people and business either currently living or based in this part of Glasgow or looking to move there.

"The Clyde Gateway is part of the wider regeneration of the city that is currently taking place, with other examples of this taking shape all around this new route."