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Forth road bridge closure

I fully understand the decision to close the bridge based upon the, at the time, unknown extent of the defects until a more thorough examination and assessment is completed.

This is a very large structure and even given that the engineers will know what to look for and where based on what is readily visible and already known I suspect that a report and plan of action will take until the new year at least.

If it is found that closing the bridge was absolutely necessary rather than just precautionary then making the bridge safe to be put back into service is much more than just a few weeks away.

I hope I am wrong but my best guess is that the bridge could be closed for months.

Mic
 
Article in the Scotsman a few weeks back talking about the private management contract and two senior members of management have moved on unhappy with their new job roles, I wonder if that has some baring on the current situation?
 
Druk said:
With reference to the pic posted by Graham in #27 this part of his report is significant.

"2.4.6 Bearings The suspension bridge deck and approach viaduct decks are provided with bearings to permit movement arising from temperature, traffic and wind effects. At the main towers, the deck is supported on truss linkages which allow longitudinal movement. FETA report that some of the bearings at the ends of the linkages may have seized and require replacement or refurbishment."


There are sixteen of these :eek:.


.
Click to expand...

It is my understanding that better quality lubricants (which in all probability would have prevented the seizures) were offered but rejected. If they were not offered then I can say categorically that they were neither sought or used. The reason for this would have been the higher (initial) cost. This is what you get when accountants hold sway. Buy cheap buy dear.
Worse though is that the imbeciles will not realise their error and the accountant will get promoted on the back of their 'cost saving', the rectification costs not featuring in 'their budget'.
 
Bellow said:
It is my understanding that better quality lubricants (which in all probability would have prevented the seizures) were offered but rejected. If they were not offered then I can say categorically that they were neither sought or used. The reason for this would have been the higher (initial) cost. This is what you get when accountants hold sway. Buy cheap buy dear.
Worse though is that the imbeciles will not realise their error and the accountant will get promoted on the back of their 'cost saving', the rectification costs not featuring in 'their budget'.
Click to expand...

They probably posted on here asking for advice and got told to buy their own lubricant on eBay to save a few quid.
 
The new bridge being built will be the fifth bridge over the Forth.
 
Dougiem said:
The new bridge being built will be the fifth bridge over the Forth.
Click to expand...

Actually , there are many more .

The two bridges at South Queensferry ( the original rail bridge and the 1960s road bridge ) , two at Kincardine , then at least three in Stirling and several smaller ones further upstream .
 
toolman1954 said:
Me and the dog are travelling the (normally) 400 miles from Northampton to Leven in Fife on Sunday. Closure of the Forth Road Bridge is going to make an already tiresome journey even more demanding. I have just looked at the map to re-plan the route off of the M74 at Jnc 4, then M73, M80, M876, M9, M876 just to get to the Kincardine Bridge.
Steve.
Click to expand...

Don't bother; I've found the solution to your travel plans. :D
 

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"""Just to add to your woes they're in the act of upgrading J5 Raith Interchange and it's all contraflow and SPECS cameras. And once you eventually get over Kincardine the joys of the A985 await. Might be better to go Clackmannanshire Bridge then the A907 to Dumfy. Good luck."""[/QUOTE]

@ DRUK,

Derek... Thank you for your suggestion of using the Clackmannanshire Bridge and A907, which I took. Full marks on that. :thumb: :thumb:
The queues for the Kincardine Bridge at 2.00pm were backing up a long way down the approach road, lots of Police there also. I just went down the inside lane and straight across the Clackmannanshire Bridge without any holdup. Lots of traffic coming south on it though, two lanes also, which is perhaps why the Police were there at the roundabout to supervise. The roundabout is just not big enough to take all the traffic and it is bottle necking there. Perhaps some traffic lights would help out to give everyone a turn, but who am I to know any better.
Journey obviously took longer than normal, I left at 8-00 am, arrived at 3-30 pm, but encountered some heavy rain and still very windy when I left Northampton. Dog and me also needed a couple of stops en route. Fuel consumption was up at 46.6 mpg, but car was well loaded and performed faultlessly. Such a nice place to be in on a long journey. Overall I think it was 4 miles shorter distance compared to the normal.
I am sure it would be a far worse journey getting across the Forth on a weekday when there would be more trucks on the roads.

Steve
 
I've always wondered if motorways in Scotland especially Glasgow were done on the cheap by a Westminster government department 400+ miles away, I say that as some of the interchanges fly in the face of anything else in the country. I'm not stoking the them and us debate but I wonder if the Forth Bridge was built to a "budget" and we are now reaping the results of that? I think the Severn Bridge is of a similar vintage and carries a similar number of vehicles (before 2nd one opened) though it did have structural problems in the 1970's.

Just asking

Paul
 
The Forth Road Bridge was built 50 years ago, for 50 years ago traffic volumes and built out of whatever was the best materials available at the time. The same analogy could be said of the M1, built over 50 years ago for 50 years ago traffic volumes and the M1 is hopelessly outdated . In fact most of the motorways in the UK are running at full to overload most of the time, every day there are queues and they really need at least 4 lanes to cope, who could have ever expected the volume of traffic that is encountered in 2015 to be so great, and of course it will only get worse. Is it time to restrict the numbers of vehicles available in the country? but that can be another topic for discussion.
I have driven on many of the motorways in Scotland and none seem any worse than those I have encountered in England. Scottish Highways not so long ago spent a ton of cash upgrading all the approach roads to the Forth Road Bridge and to the Airport. The only wasted money was that used for updating all the toll booths and then the Scottish Government decided to abandon the tolls, so all the new booths had to be removed.
Only today on BBC Radio Scotland was there a phone in and many listeners who had been affected ( one as I recall was a winkle picker whose business was to be badly affected ) were asking why there has been no contingency plans made for the FRB being closed long term. Seems no one had any answers, just availability of cash for improvements.
In the past when there was overnight or closures for bad weather, the Kincardine Bridge just coped, albeit with queues and delays. In the short term you just had to accept the situation and the FRB would probably be open the next day when the storm had passed. Seems there has been no contingency plans for any long term closures, otherwise the roads to and from the other bridges would be better. Today some of the roads had been made one way and some were for HGV only, lots of slow moving traffic. But as I spotted yesterday the roundabout where the traffic diverts between the Clackmananshire and the Kincardine Bridge is just not man enough to take the load from north to south. There is a phenomenal amount of traffic using the Forth Road Bridge every day, these structures do not last forever. There is a new bridge being built now but that will be ready supposedly until next year. Perhaps this should have been requisitioned some years ago, but as with everything, cash for these projects is always a problem.

Steve.
 
Had to do the de-tour myself this afternoon and it wasn't actually that bad, I was expecting huge tailbacks but it was all flowing nicely - at 3:30pm! Couldn't imagine how bad it must be at 5pm, trying to get from Edinburgh to Fife at 4:30 onwards looks bad Mon-Fri so must be awful for those guys now.

Still, Fife have the last laugh... They've got the largest Amazon depot in the country.
 
Fife, now that's what I call a bridge too far :-)
 
THE REPAIR

_87140260_truss.jpg


The sheer truss will be splinted on either side. From what I gathered on the BBC Scottish news a repair scaffolding platform is being constructed below the cracked truss to support it during the repair.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-35060879
 
Wonder if they've x-rayed any of the other 15 to see if they're also cracked?
 
TRANSPORT SCOTLAND WEBSITE :- In addition to repairing the defect, Amey is taking preventative action on another seven similar locations on the bridge to prevent any issues from occuring and structural monitoring systems are also being installed at these locations.

I don't know what monitoring equipment they will use--- strain gauges? but whatever they may be they will have to contend with a pretty harsh environment.
 
So no one found an arc welder, and there will not be a welded joint in sight after the repair. Does that mean if you have a bit of chassis corrosion that needs welding you can nut and bolt a splint across the affected area is to pass an MOT, and just quote "to Forth Road Bridge Standards" to the MOT tester.
Steve
 
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