The road continues westwards into the suburbs of the city passing Murrayfield and Corstorphine, often with an accompanying bus lane.

Only once the road reaches the A720 City Bypass does it become a primary route, leading out past the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston, and Edinburgh Airport.

Until recently there was no road of motorway standard between Newhouse and Baillieston in the eastern suburbs of Glasgow, and the A8 still carried all through traffic here, having been progressively upgraded to meet demand.

[2] It is now the principal non-motorway access between the Eurocentral business park and the settlements of Chapelhall and Calderbank, south of Airdrie.

It splits for the complex one-way system, recombining prior to the junction at the start of the A814 that heads west along the Clyde, before crossing the river near The Gorbals, where it meets the end of the A74.