Debating the future of the Forth bridge

A debate is now underway regarding the fate of the existing Forth Road Bridge in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. A new Forth Replacement Bridge is being planned at a cost of some €2.64 billion and once this opens, it will carry heavy vehicles, which will not be allowed over the current bridge. Excessive loading and corrosion have taken their toll on the current bridge, although measures to halt the cable corrosion in this suspension bridge have now been taken.
May 14, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A debate is now underway regarding the fate of the existing Forth Road Bridge in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

A new Forth Replacement Bridge is being planned at a cost of some €2.64 billion and once this opens, it will carry heavy vehicles, which will not be allowed over the current bridge. Excessive loading and corrosion have taken their toll on the current bridge, although measures to halt the cable corrosion in this suspension bridge have now
been taken.

When the new link opens, there are proposals to turn the existing bridge into a pedestrian and cycleway only, although there are questions over the high maintenance costs for such use.

Overall though, the fate of the Forth Road Bridge provides a case in point for all older bridges around the world. The existing bridge was designed in the 1950s and built to high engineering standards, opening to traffic in 1964. However the bridge now has to cope with considerably higher volumes of traffic than it was designed for. In addition, the maximum GVW of trucks using the bridge has more than doubled since the link was opened.
Road Structures

Related Content

  • Insufficient traffic means Norwegian bridge to raise prices?
    August 11, 2014
    Norway’s new Hardanger Bridge is not carrying enough traffic according to the latest data available. According to the statistics for July 2014, some 3,500 vehicles/day crossed over the Hardanger Bridge (Hardangerbrua) in Norway. This was a notable increase from the 2,450 vehicles/day using the link in June 2014. This is higher than the normal volumes due to high levels of summer vacation traffic. However, it is not sufficiently high to hit the planned average of 1,950 vehicles/day for the whole year. The r
    Read More
  • Managing urban motorway complexity in Sydney
    October 4, 2012
    Sydney’s Hills M2 motorway is being widened while still carrying traffic and meeting tough environmental criteria More than 100,000 vehicles and over 27,000 bus commuters use the Hills M2 motorway on a typical workday, making it one of Sydney’s busiest motorway corridors. Owned and managed by Hills Motorway Ltd (HML) and a key part of the city’s orbital motorway network, the road stretches over 21km, providing a seamless link between the Lane Cove Tunnel and Westlink M7. The Hills M2 Upgrade is one of many
    Read More
  • Funding the future for road development
    May 11, 2018
    Once again the spectre of future road funding has raised its ugly head. The US administration has announced plans for a massive redevelopment programme for its crumbling infrastructure network. However, as the American Road Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has so succinctly pointed out in a recent report, how to pay for the work has yet to be established. This has been backed up by US transport expert Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation, as he recently commented, “…the way we fund and manage th
    Read More
  • A free bridge? You’ve got to be kidding.
    February 18, 2015
    Nothing will stop construction of another bridge crossing the Detroit River to ease traffic congestion around North America’s most important economic border. The New International Trade Crossing will be entirely financed and owned by the Canadian government under a public private partnership. It will link the US city of Detroit, in the state of Michigan, with the Canadian city of Windsor in the province of Ontario. The two cities already have the toll road Ambassador Bridge as well as a toll road tunnel and
    Read More

Highlighted Content