As with many of the other Glasgow Motorway proposals of the 1960s and 1970s, the Renfrew Motorway was outlined in A Highway Plan for Glasgow published in 1965. Originally the scheme was named the “Scotland Street Motorway” but was later changed to match the naming convention of the other motorways radiating out from the Inner Ring Road.

The Renfrew Motorway was designed and constructed in two stages. Stage 1, from the Kingston Bridge to Helen Street, was designed by Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners and constructed by Balfour Beatty. Construction began on 17th September 1973, just weeks before all UK Government civil engineering contracts were placed on hold due to the oil crisis.

Stage 2, from Helen Street to the Hillington Interchange, was designed by W.A Fairhurst & Partners and constructed by Leonard Fairclough Ltd. Construction began on 8th January 1974. Holford and Associates were appointed as Consulting Architects as part of their contract with Glasgow Corporation.

Both stages opened to traffic at the same time on 15th of October 1976. The total cost of the scheme was £35 million, £20 million for Stage 1 and £15 million for Stage 2. That is almost £255 million today's prices.

Long sections of the Renfrew Motorway were constructed with four lanes in each direction. This was required as traffic projections indicated that it was likely to attract more than 100,000 vehicles per day when surrounding motorways and expressways were completed.

The motorway corridor was selected fairly easily with large amounts of adjacent sub standard housing due to be demolished. The corridor also ran parallel with the main railway line between Glasgow and Paisley reducing community severance issues. The majority of the route was constructed at ground level or in cutting with the only elevated section being Scotland Street Viaduct.

Paisley Road West, Helen Street and Dumbreck Road were each slightly realigned and carried over the new motorway on overbridges. Several footbridges and underpasses were provided to ensure people could still access areas on either side of the route. Another key aspect of the design was to provide a route that was as aesthetically appealing as possible and have as minimal an impact on the local community as possible.