It runs from the outskirts of Edinburgh, bypassing the towns of Linlithgow, Falkirk, Grangemouth and Stirling to end at Dunblane.

[4] The road is approximately 30 miles (48 km) long, and runs in a roughly north-west direction from the M8.

This spur ended at the single carriageway A8000 road 2 miles (3.2 km) short of the bridge, but was extended in September 2007 to meet the A90 at Scotstoun.

[5] The road shares space with 1 mile (1.6 km) of the M876 en route to the Kincardine Bridge east of Stenhousemuir, at this point the motorway has 3 lanes in each direction, making it the most northerly stretch of motorway in the UK to be 3 lanes wide.

At Stirling it meets the M80 (junction 9 of both motorways), taking over the main route through the Carse of Lecropt to the final roundabout at Dunblane.