Hauliers welcome new Forth road bridge
Hauliers in Scotland have welcomed the announcement that a new road bridge will be built across the Firth of Forth. The Scottish government says the structure - costing between £3.2bn and £4.2bn - will be a cable-stayed bridge to the west of the current suspension road crossing. The tendering process to find a suitable contractor is due to be launched in 2010, with work on the replacement crossing to begin in 2011. The bridge is set to open in 2016.
Mark Jackson, operations director at Bathgate, West Lothian operator Pollock Scotrans, says: "We welcome the news that the new road crossing will be built. However, we are still concerned that the repairs in the meantime to the existing bridge will cause massive disruption." The first stage - to replace a series of old joints on the existing Forth road bridge - will involve closing the crossing. This is expected to take place from April to June 2009, with a second closure of about four weeks to follow.
