Forth Road Bridge

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Forth Replacement Crossing feature on STV news

January 5, 2012 in Forth Replacement Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, News | No comments

Towards the end of December there was a feature on STV news showing construction having started on the new Forth Crossing. You can watch the clip online and includes comments from infrastructure minister Alex Neil on work awarded to sub contractors as an early Christmas present for Scottish industry. This includes £20million already awarded with many more contracts still being advertised.

Wind speed 3rd January on Forth bridge. Courtesy of official Forth Bridge website

The other notable item from December (and also now in January) was the closure of the current Forth Crossing to all traffic due to high winds. While the bridge is occasionally closed to high-sided vehicles, it is quite unusual to be shut completely as it was on the 8th of December 2011. Since then, the bridge was also shut on the 3rd of January this year (2012) to all vehicles as yet another storm raged across central Scotland. According to the official Forth Bridge website, the bridge only shuts when gusts exceed 80mph. It is unclear as to what wind speeds the new bridge will remain open.

Alex Neil used the same interview to highlight the wind proofing that will be present on the new bridge – a giant wind shield – to prevent closure in the future on the new bridge.

Finally, I’m pretty sure this is just a bit of scare mongering/rumour, but the Dunfermline press ran an article a few days ago hinting that there could be a return to bridge tolls in an effort to meet carbon emission standards. Needless to say, the SNP government rebutted this suggestion.

Archaeological excavations to begin at site of Forth replacement crossing

August 16, 2010 in Forth Replacement Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, new forth road bridge, Scottish Parliament, South Queensferry | No comments

BBC News recently ran a story announcing that archaeological were to begin this month (August, 2010) following the award of a contract to Edinburgh based company Headland Archaeology. According to the report, initial studies will focus on the area of St.Margaret’s Hope and the Echline Fields, sites identified by Transport Scotland and Historic Scotland as being of interest. Fife newspaper The Courier added that investigation will involve “geophysical survey, trial trenches and hand excavation”.

The Forthspan bid was recently rocked by news that the worlds largest bridge builder, Vinci Construction has pulled out of the bid. It was promptly replaced by MT Hojgaard who were involved in the building of the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark. As reported by The Scotsman, there continue to be concerns about the ability of both Forthspan and it’s rival the Forth Crossing Constructors Group to last right through the tendering process and to provide a competitive bid.

The Forthspan collaboration includes major constructors Balfour Beatty, Morgan EST and BAM Nuttall and now joined by MT Hojgaard who have replaced Vinci, previously the leading organisation. Opposing them is the Forth Crossing Constructors Group, a consortium consisting of Morrison Construction, Hochtief, American Bridge and ACS.

I don’t come across many of these, but I did find an objection raised by Cala Homes against the proposed work on the M9 junction to facilitate the forth replacement crossing access around Winchburgh. Interestingly, it looks like Transport Scotland proposes to lease the land from Cala during the course of the work, rather than using it’s compulsory purchase powers. Have any other formal objections in writing? Let me know.

Tags: archaeology, Cala Scotland, Forth Crossing Constructors, Forthspan, Headland Archaeology, new forth bridge progress

Forth replacement crossing news roundup for July

July 25, 2010 in Forth Replacement Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, new forth road bridge, Scottish Parliament, South Queensferry | No comments

Cancelling the replacement forth crossing would cost over £22million according to the Scottish executive., Responding to a question raised in the Scottish Parliament on the 14th of July, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson gave this total explaining that wind down and staff redeployment costs would be in addition to this figure and could not at present be estimated.

Work has also begun to move a sewerage pipe near Port Edgar, some 200metres to the sast as part of preparation for construction to commence on the new Forth bridge. Scottish Water has been instructed by Transport Scotland to start this work, who are outsourcing it to a local firm AMC Subsea based in Leith, Edinburgh. By moving the pipe now, it will not delay construction on the bridge when this is due to start, estimated next year.

An economic feasibility study has been completed on the replacement forth bridge, by S.C. Wamuziri of Napier University and A.G.F. Clearie of engineering firm Jacobs (the current project managers). It is available to purchase from it’s publishers ‘Emerald’. If anyone has a copy, I would be interested in reading it.

I’ve recently become aware of the blog called A place to stand written by a political nay-sayer, blogging on amongst other things the replacement Forth Road bridge. While his posts (as blogs inevitably are) are all personal opinion, they do make an interesting read as a counter to the usual political dogma we have thrown at us. Along similiar lines, the Caledonian Mercury online paper, recently posted an opinion piece by Lawrence Marshall, chairman of the Forthright Alliance re-affirming his opinion on why we do not need a replacement crossing, but should repair the existing bridge instead.

And finally, chances are you shouldn’t use facebook at work. You probably do, but really you shouldn’t. Well, our civil servants have found a good way around all this. With the current social media crazy, why not join facebook under a work account, and then it must be OK. I present to you, the Forth Road Bridge facebook account run by our government funded friends at FETA.

News round-up for May for the new Forth Road Bridge, South Queensferry and the surround Forth Estuary area

June 3, 2010 in Forth Replacement Crossing, Forth Road Bridge, Queensferry Gazette, Scottish Parliament | No comments

Back in April it was announced that a Historic Scotland archaelogical team was appointed by Transport Scotland to oversee excavations this summer. This work is being undertaken now so it can be completed ahead of the ‘main’ date for construction to start in 2011.

This construction will, in part, be overseen by Mr David Climie, who was appointed Project Directory by Transport Scotland. He has a range of previous engineering experience working on bridges including the Acoma Narrows Bridge project in the United States in 2007 and China’s Jiangyin suspension bridge.

Another man in the spotlight is Steve Kite, who has done a short promotional video of Arup’s involvement in the Forth Replacement Crossing.

The project has moved forward politically recently, with overwhelming support in the Scottish Parliament when put to a vote. Green MSP’s were the only objectors with Margo MacDonald and Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) abstaining. As part of the bill, following continued protest by local residents. These measures include limits on working hours and other measures to reduce noise and disruption. For some, including Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson, work on the bridge can not start soon enough.

Finally, the current Forth Road Bridge operator FETA, is keen not to be cut out of the picture, calling on Transport Scotland to give it the right to manage the replacement Forth Crossing when it is finally opened. This may seem logical, although did not go down particularly well when it was also announced a few weeks later that the top brass of the body have run up £12k of travel expenses including many trips abroad.