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Forth Road Bridge Closed


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Took me 3 and a half hours to get home to Glasgow from Dundee this afternoon and I don't know anywhere near the bridge.

M9 from Perth was a nightmare, made the mistake of coming off at Stirling services for a pish and sat in a queue for nearly an hour.

i was going teh otherway to stirling, but soon as touched teh M9 teh whole thing ws ####ed

any road touching any route from edinburgh and form to fife is going to be shagged from now till new year

i dont know a route but youd be better going cross country from dundee stirling till joing m80 from stirling to glasgow from now

although cant think of a good route

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i was going teh otherway to stirling, but soon as touched teh M9 teh whole thing ws ######ed

any road touching any route from edinburgh and form to fife is going to be shagged from now till new year

i dont know a route but youd be better going cross country from dundee stirling till joing m80 from stirling to glasgow from now

although cant think of a good route

Blairgowrie Dunkeld Crieff Dunblane? Or over the tay bridge, to St Modans to Stirling from there?
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As a qualified bridge engineer I'd say the bridge was probably on annual visual inspections, possibly reduced to six monthly if there was any particular concerns. An entirely reasonable examination frequency.

The photo I've seen shows a fatigue crack at a critical connection. Obviously not ideal. The problem then is identifying the extent of damage in other connections given the same detail would be replicated over the entire structure. They would have done this fairly quickly, and the fact the bridge is now closed suggests they didn't like what they found.

In terms of a fix, physically getting to these will be the biggest problem. Largely dependant on weather and whether or not it's reachable by a walkway (unlikely) or by roped access. Then you have to get steel plates done there to fix it. Interesting to see how this one pans out but glad it ain't my job. A month to fix it would be good going.

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As a qualified bridge engineer I'd say the bridge was probably on annual visual inspections, possibly reduced to six monthly if there was any particular concerns. An entirely reasonable examination frequency.

The photo I've seen shows a fatigue crack at a critical connection. Obviously not ideal. The problem then is identifying the extent of damage in other connections given the same detail would be replicated over the entire structure. They would have done this fairly quickly, and the fact the bridge is now closed suggests they didn't like what they found.

In terms of a fix, physically getting to these will be the biggest problem. Largely dependant on weather and whether or not it's reachable by a walkway (unlikely) or by roped access. Then you have to get steel plates done there to fix it. Interesting to see how this one pans out but glad it ain't my job. A month to fix it would be good going.

As far as my experience goes, engineers saying "obviously not ideal" means it's pretty ####ed.

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Maybe someone with the know how can embed some of these picture,

I've been trying all morning to no avail, windows 7.

I especially like the large roll of duck tape being sent to mend the bridge.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/12034033/Forth-Bridge-Closure-They-may-take-our-bridge-but-theyll-never-take-our-memes.html

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Some pretty alarming online commentary pointing to significant under-investment by Scottish Government. Pretty depressing reading. Media are surely biding their time to hit them hard if some of that stuff is even remotely true. They'll deserve it too.

If lack of government funding has led to this, it would go down as one of the most serious political errors in the lifetime of the Scottish parliament.

The only thing that's going to give them some room for maneuver is that they went ahead with the new crossing in face of some considerable opposition. Things would look significantly worse if that bridge hadn't been started.

Still doesn't clear them of awkward questions in this calamity.

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Some pretty alarming online commentary pointing to significant under-investment by Scottish Government. Pretty depressing reading. Media are surely biding their time to hit them hard if some of that stuff is even remotely true. They'll deserve it too.

If lack of government funding has led to this, it would go down as one of the most serious political errors in the lifetime of the Scottish parliament.

The only thing that's going to give them some room for maneuver is that they went ahead with the new crossing in face of some considerable opposition. Things would look significantly worse if that bridge hadn't been started.

Still doesn't clear them of awkward questions in this calamity.

Do you have any links to reputable sources of this "significant under investment" being the cause of this particular problem?

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I obviously can't comment on how reputable these sources are (and I have no doubt some have an SNP axe to grind), but interesting (and worrying) none the less:

https://drscottthinks.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/forth-road-bridge-truss-end-links-was-work-planned-cancelled-and-deferred/

http://www.tartanjack.com/scottish-government-failed-to-act-on-forth-road-bridge/

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY077389

https://www.facebook.com/AndrewCarrieTrafficAndTransportation/posts/937205549681615

Regardless of political hue, this kind of thing should never happen. It's massive and the the media will (rightly) expect the buck to stop with the Scottish Government. They'll be sharpening their knives as we speak and are probably all over Transport Scotland like a rash.

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I obviously can't comment on how reputable these sources are (and I have no doubt some have an SNP axe to grind), but interesting (and worrying) none the less:

https://drscottthinks.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/forth-road-bridge-truss-end-links-was-work-planned-cancelled-and-deferred/

http://www.tartanjack.com/scottish-government-failed-to-act-on-forth-road-bridge/

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY077389

https://www.facebook.com/AndrewCarrieTrafficAndTransportation/posts/937205549681615

Regardless of political hue, this kind of thing should never happen. It's massive and the the media will (rightly) expect the buck to stop with the Scottish Government. They'll be sharpening their knives as we speak and are probably all over Transport Scotland like a rash.

I'll have a read later. I'm also surprised that the media aren't making more of this. Maybe they are biding their time as they know this will still be a story in the New Year and might be wanting to hold on to their ammo until a wee bit closer to the election?

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The media will be all over every decision made by the Transport Scotland and Scottish Government since 2007, and reviewing every funding decision. They'll be in no rush given how long this will go on for and you can be sure the Scottish Government will be inundated with FOI requests over the next month or so. And that's before the full extent of the damage and repairs is even known. By sounds of it, repairs could involve lifting road decks so this could one almighty headache for the Scottish Government and a long one at that. Given the inconvenience to thousands in Fife and Central belt, good chance any and all dirt will stick. And we're 6 months out from a Scottish election. Opposition and the media will know this is the most potent crisis SNP have faced since 2007 by some margin.

There's times I find Derek Mackay quite irritating but there's a number of SNP MSPs I wouldn't want anywhere near this gig and he's one of a few Im glad are on it. In for a tough time though.

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I obviously can't comment on how reputable these sources are (and I have no doubt some have an SNP axe to grind), but interesting (and worrying) none the less:

https://drscottthinks.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/forth-road-bridge-truss-end-links-was-work-planned-cancelled-and-deferred/

http://www.tartanjack.com/scottish-government-failed-to-act-on-forth-road-bridge/

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY077389

https://www.facebook.com/AndrewCarrieTrafficAndTransportation/posts/937205549681615

Regardless of political hue, this kind of thing should never happen. It's massive and the the media will (rightly) expect the buck to stop with the Scottish Government. They'll be sharpening their knives as we speak and are probably all over Transport Scotland like a rash.

Probably the same people who didn't want a new bridge built either.

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