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Forth Road Bridge Closed


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i dont disagree with it but there's clear evidence out there that contracts have been out to tender from as far back as 2010 that explicitly refer to work on over-stressed truss end links.

My memory's a bit rusty on this but was there not an alternative option to spending the budget on the new crossing, for increased remedial work on the bridge?

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My memory's a bit rusty on this but was there not an alternative option to spending the budget on the new crossing, for increased remedial work on the bridge?

Haven't a clue. This doesn't exactly fill me with confidence though:

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

I mean. Thats 2010 and it clearly identifies required work in what looks like the exact areas that have been shown to fail or fracture. Whatever the reason for cancelling or deferring that work, it's hard not to conclude that FETA, Transport Scotland and/or the Scottish Government have serious questions to answer regardless. New bridge or not, it is not acceptable for what we've seen happen, happen.

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It's curious that this proposal was cancelled around the same time as the new bridge bill was going through parliament.

I can only assume the advice was that the bridge should be able to hold out until the new crossing opened at which point the load on the old bridge would be greatly reduced.

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I have no idea how people think you can fix something that isn't broken. And replacing the current broken part would still involve the bridge closing as that part not being there/ being defective makes it structurally unsafe.

Alan- do you just jump on everything to say snp bad? Its a bit tedious that every situation ever you have to try and get political capital from

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i dont disagree with it but there's clear evidence out there that contracts have been out to tender from as far back as 2010 that explicitly refer to work on over-stressed truss end links. I certainly do not deny that the bridge is massively over-stressed and over-capacity and the SNP now deserve huge credit for starting the new crossing, but that cannot be an excuse to turn the other cheek if public safety has been compromised or budget cuts have led to this. Dont get me wrong, politicians might not be to blame - it's equally possible that civil servants, FETA, Transport Scotland, whoever have failed to adequately manage or articulate the risk to the bridge - a thorough investigation is required and it's important people put their party loyalty aside and ensure that regardless of the colour of the rosette, an explanation is given as to how this has happened. And for what it's worth, Labour will be equally culpable when the long-term questions and investment is investigated. But no matter what way you cut it, the SNP are in for a horrendous time whether it's the questions about cancelled maintenance contracts or ending tolls that would have covered the cost of these contracts. I dont like it as much as you, but that's the reality.

The thing is I am no Civil Engineer so would need to rely on one that had actually been involved and seen the issues if there were any to give their analysis of whether it was lack of funding or some other reason. If the Scottish Government have a part to play in this then they clearly have to answer to it but I don't feel particularly qualified to speculate :unsure:

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What's happening with the bridge when the new one opens?

Is the new one going to be "the bridge" or an additional one?

Being Fife, the new bridge will be looked upon with suspicion, after a lengthy trial with key witnesses including Scunnered, Auld_Reekie, a duck and Gordon Brown, the new bridge will be covered in Wicker and set ablaze. After 7 days of celebration they'll return to whining that they can't get to work.

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Someone will be having a good look at the Erskine bridge now

Right enough, mind it was shut for weeks after an oil rig collided with it.

Shit happens...

What's happening with the bridge when the new one opens?

Is the new one going to be "the bridge" or an additional one?

It will be known as the Queensferry Crossing. The Forth Road Bridge will remain so, only to be used by buses and non-motorway traffic...

Edited by Toepoke
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First proper day of Bridgegate.

Got the last car parking space at Inverkeithing station car park at just before 7am. It normally has spaces up until about 7.45-8am.

To be fair to station they have it some decent organisation in place and a queuing system to get onto Edinburgh bound platform rather than just leaving it as a free for all. Trained turned up at 7.10, busy, quite a few folk got on. Another turned up 10 mins later, empty, managed to get on that and get a seat.

Inverkeithing is the main station in Fife for Edinburgh trains and the organisation definitely made it as smooth as could be expected this morning but I have read some reports of other stations having no such controls in place and it being pretty much free for all and folks having no chance of getting on trains.

Also a few reports of people ignoring the bus/HGV only route on A985 and just going on it anyway. I believe the Clackmannanshire Bridge crossing was at a standstill from early this morning.

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Thanks for the replies.

Nice to be able to post on a thread that doesn't get locked nowadays.

:lol:

Give it time my man. We are only a few days deep here. There are already lads at my work losing their shit over this......and that's being polite.

'No good can come from living in Fife' isn't constructive apparently.....

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First proper day of Bridgegate.

Got the last car parking space at Inverkeithing station car park at just before 7am. It normally has spaces up until about 7.45-8am.

To be fair to station they have it some decent organisation in place and a queuing system to get onto Edinburgh bound platform rather than just leaving it as a free for all. Trained turned up at 7.10, busy, quite a few folk got on. Another turned up 10 mins later, empty, managed to get on that and get a seat.

Inverkeithing is the main station in Fife for Edinburgh trains and the organisation definitely made it as smooth as could be expected this morning but I have read some reports of other stations having no such controls in place and it being pretty much free for all and folks having no chance of getting on trains.

Also a few reports of people ignoring the bus/HGV only route on A985 and just going on it anyway. I believe the Clackmannanshire Bridge crossing was at a standstill from early this morning.

The queue was back to Forestmill at 7am I believe. Grim if you need to do that every day.

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The queue was back to Forestmill at 7am I believe. Grim if you need to do that every day.

Seen as my ex comes from Kincardine, i find the chaos she'll have to face every day very amusing :)

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Yes. The new bridge will have some of the most technically advanced monitoring systems in the world. Almost all new structures on that scale would have some form of remote monitoring. The existing bridge may well have been monitored but it would have been retrospective and therefore only installed in known areas of high stress, areas of concern etc. The issues with the cables that formed the basis for the business case for a new crossing were identified using monitoring apparatus.

The bridge was never designed to carry the volume and weight of modern traffic, so it's not difficult to see why it's starting to show signs of distress.

I'm told the defects were in hard to reach areas, so it may be that these were only inspected at longer intervals, say 5-years, during detailed surveys, rather than a more general annual inspection.

Thanks for the reply, one would have thought that the "hard to reach" areas would have been the prime candidates for the installation of remote monitoring as the cynic in me can't help thinking that "hard to reach" is simply code for "not done often enough".

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Seen as my ex comes from Kincardine, i find the chaos she'll have to face every day very amusing :)

Ha ha well it looks like you will get a good while out of it m8 so enjoy. I'm delighted I only work a mile from the house, feck doing that every day. Mrs Angus Young goes back to work in the New Year and needs to use the Clackmannanshire Bridge. Already thinking she might be better off looking at trains.

Were you affected by any of the flooding over your way at the weekend?

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