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

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.