** 13/10/2011 Update ** Thanks to Ian Smith for alerting me to the fact that the scheme also covers the A92 up to the Crossgates junction. I haven’t been this way myself, so the updated map is my best estimate.
Those of you who have recently travelled to or from the bridge in Fife will have noticed speed restrictions in place and the closure of the hard shoulder. The road works are scheduled to last until the summer of 2012 and are for the installation of an Intelligent Traffic System (ITS), or average speed cameras to most of us. They are in place from the Forth road bridge to Halbeath near Dunfermline along the M90 and also on the A823 on the approach to the M90 from Pitreavie. Transport Scotland say that the initial phase of hard shoulder closures are for the construction of gantries upon which to site the cameras, which use automatic number plate recognition to catch speeding drivers.
new 40mph limit for average speed cameras on approach to forth road bridge
The image above shows the extent of the current road works with the old 40mph limit at the approach to the bridge marked in purple. You can see the zone now extends to the Pitreavie roundabout (blue marker), Halbeath (green) and Crossgates on the A92 (yellow).