For 40 years it has hung in the air across the busiest stretch of road in Scotland, puzzling travellers.

Now Glasgow's "bridge to nowhere" could finally have a destination if the British viewing public can be persuaded it should be completed.

A plan to connect the pedestrian bridge over the M8 in Anderston to a local cycle network has reached the last hurdle in a bid for lottery funding.

It is part of Connect2, one of four projects that have reached the shortlist of the People's £50m Lottery Giveaway, and involves creating walking and cycling routes in 79 communities in the UK, including four in Scotland.

Television viewers will choose which of the four to give the one-off payout to after each makes its bid for votes on a programme.

The Anderston footbridge was originally planned to link into an elevated shopping centre, but the final phase of the development was never completed and the connecting ramp stops abruptly in mid-air.

The lottery bid has been put together by Sustrans, a UK transport charity, and Glasgow City Council.

The cost of the Bridge to Nowhere plan is around £2.5m and the lottery would provide £1m towards it.

The Connect2 project is competing against three English bids: one is for a canal and green space plan in the Black Country, another for a new attraction at the Eden Project in Cornwall and a third in Sherwood Forest to replant woodland and create cycle and horse riding paths.

The Glasgow project aims to connect its start point in Anderston with Waterloo Street, which will be altered to provide a two-way cycle route in and out of Central Station.

The bridge will join up major cycle networks in the west of Scotland and provide safer routes for cyclists.

To the south, the route will link with the cycle path along the River Clyde by connecting the Anderston footbridge with another pedestrian bridge over the Clydeside Expressway.

From Argyle Street in Anderston the route will head west to Elderslie Street and into Kelvingrove Park connecting with the Kelvin Walkway and on to the Forth and Clyde Canal.

The plan will also help disabled people get across the M8 to the city centre.

Tommy Steele and Margaret Stubbs, neighbours from Anderston, will appear on television urging the public to back their scheme.

Mr Steele, 55, who lives in Argyle Street, said: "If this happens the world will be our oyster. It is not easy getting across busy roads at crossings. A vote for the bridge will be a vote for independence for local disabled people."

Ms Stubbs, 48, said: "There are a lot of people in electric wheelchairs in this area and it would help them a lot to be able to get across the M8."

The other Scottish projects include a link between Perth and Scone, a network connecting Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in Lanarkshire and improving old railway pathways in Dumfries.

Each plan will have a dedicated TV show in the first week of December with Connect2 scheduled for December 4.