Forth Road Bridge - now in intensive care

[campbell]

How would we ever know for sure?

Commiserations to all who are now battling through the Scottish Government's "travel plan", particularly on the north bank of the Forth.

[David]

I did the KH run on Sunday - usually a lazy drive over the Clackmannanshire bridge for me, but shocked to find the Kincardine bridge closed to cars - basically it's a single lane route over the Clack's bridge now. It only got worse on the north side with queuing traffic up almost to the KH turn off as there was traffic management on the roundabout which was stopping traffic flowing efficiently. I couldn't understand what they are up to? I guess it was intended as priority route but no commercial vehicles on a Sunday, resulting in an empty Kincardine bridge, and forcing cars into long queues. Traffic left to it's own devices there would have had no issues at all

[Stephen]

Dom's link states that the truss end connections were known to be overstressed. I would be interested in reading the case for cancelling the contract.

[Stevoraith]

If you're coming back before 08:30 the next day on the train then you can leave your car in our street (no parking regulations between 6pm and 8.30am) and then walk to the Haymarket.

Cheers,
Robin

Thank Robin, I'll send you a PM for more details, that could be a useful backup

Wasn't pleasant this morning.

Left at 5.25, got to work at 7.20.
The diversions are a farce- no signs (that I could see- and I was looking!) after the Kelty turn-off. So they basically tell you to turn north instead of south, then there's a sign to tell you to come off at Kelty, then you're on your own.

God help any tourists. There was a train of cars in front of me, all of whom took the wrong turning (or rather didn't take a turning), assuming they were attempting to cross the Forth. They would have ended up on some very small roads leading no-where.

I'm just glad I studied the map the night before and knew where I was going.

I can tell you now though, there will be some serious accidents on these roads before Christmas- the combination of small roads, bad weather, and people who don't really know where they're going and are also tired from having to get up earlier than normal and then really concentrate on driving instead of auto-piloting down the motorway is not a good combination.

So going to face the drive home tonight and then train tomorrow.

A colleague has volunteered to pick me up at Waverley which should help. This better be done by the time works starts again in the new year.....

[Dark]

Parking around Dalmeny Station is chaos today.
The council have imposed a temporary traffic order and are out with the cones for Station Road and surrounding streets.

[Jamie Satriani]

If they had done what was planned years ago and continued the A823 (M) from where it joins the M90 right out to Kincardine, this scenario would be nowhere near the horrific situation we are in now. Even without structural problems on the bridge this needs put in place for the multitude of times per year the bridge is closed to high sided vehicles and other weather related problems, which can and does cause major disruption, and couple that with the "unforeseen" possibilities in the future ( a Terrorist attack for example, maybe unlikely but definitely not impossible) then it is a no-brainer.

This should be the wake up call, something needs put in place on the north side of the Forth that can take Motorway levels of traffic with ease all the way to the Kincardine bridge, not just for when a diversion is required but also for the huge amounts of traffic that use the route anyway. Its long overdue.

[robin]

I agree it would be good to connect up the M90 to the M9 via another route - the FRB routes a lot of traffic in an unnatural route anyway - lots of the cars that come over the FRB aren't heading to Edinburgh or due South - so for a lot of that traffic a more westerly route would probably be an improvement - but we've spent £beellions on building the freedom bridge - so probably no cash left for building any other roads now

Meanwhile there might be other roads in Scotland that would be better upgraded to motorway - e.g. the A9!

[campbell]

The tree huggers will never sign off the M823 Dunf to Kinc. Nice idea though.

[thinfourth]

I would hope employers might examine the wisdom of having to have employees drive 4 hours a day so they can spend 6 hours staring at a computer screen when most employees have a perfectly serviceable computer screen at home

[campbell]

Some research from previous commuter chaos suggests some staff & employers do develop new habits after such incidents.

Although it's not always about computer screens...

[Dominic]

Wot he said.

Also, some work based car share schemes, afterall, how many of the cars have only the driver in them?


This coming from the guy who doesn't car share... But, my commute is less than 15 mins, and I am a one man business!

[campbell]

Leeds has car share lanes IIRC. No idea if they help though.

[Dominic]

Leeds has car share lanes IIRC. No idea if they help though.

So that's their excuse for such high regional sales of inflatable dolls....

[pete]

Buy a motorcycle.

[Dominic]

Buy a motorcycle.

Or a boat.