Dunfermline Press | News | Desperate scramble for new Forth Road Bridge weather plan

Thursday, 21st August, 2008

Published: Thursday, 20th March, 2008 10:55

Desperate scramble for new Forth Road Bridge weather plan

By Ewan Ferguson

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TRANSPORT chiefs in charge of the Forth Road Bridge are rushing to establish new bad-weather procedures in wake of the toll plaza being removed.

The scramble for new measures comes after police said that an operation to intercept high-sided vehicles, trying to use the bridge in bad weather, can’t continue.

Since the removal of the tolls and toll booths, motorists have faced long delays trying to enter West Fife because the drivers of some high-sided vehicles have ignored restrictions.

The toll booths were regarded as an effective filter to stop the lorries using the crossing during strong winds.

Lothian and Borders Police have been trying to intercept the lorries and vans before they reach the bridge, causing gridlock on the approach roads.

Traffic has to be slowed to 30mph to allow officers to stand in the carriageway and give lorries time to turn around.

But, in an e-mail to a Press reader who had complained about delays, Superintendent Alan Duncan of Lothian and Borders Police said a different solution must be found.

He said, “The problems, which have only manifested themselves recently at the Forth Road Bridge, are directly as a consequence of the removal of the toll barriers.

“The long-term resolution of closures to high-sided vehicles on the bridge is not a police issue but one for the bridge authority, Roads Scotland, Edinburgh and Fife councils.”

So far this year, two lorries have blown over on the bridge, causing it to be closed for several hours and traffic to be diverted to Kincardine.

While the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Feta) has said the accidents happened when there were no restrictions in place, it has set up a working group to look at possible changes to procedure.

This group will include Edinburgh and Fife Councils, Lothians and Fife Police, Feta and the Met Office.

Feta’s converner, Councillor Tony Martin, said earlier warnings of bad weather and closures could be the key.

“Our strong-wind procedures have not changed for a number of years and have generally served us well,” said Mr Martin.

“Without these procedures there would have been a lot more incidents. However, we’re always open to making improvements.

“It’s important to remember that we can’t eliminate risk – we can only manage it.

"Having the toll booths in place would not have prevented recent incidents.”

But Phil Wheeler, deputy chair of Feta, said that when the tolls were removed, no thought was given to the consequences of taking away the booths.

“I think it was a knee-jerk thing and they (the Government) had not thought through the implications of their decision,” he said.

“It did have a good filter effect and the traffic management impact they had was good.”

Phil Flanders, director for the Road Haulage Association in Scotland, added that all members were encouraged to obey restrictions.

“We’re going to be meeting Feta shortly to discuss the issues but we would never encourage anybody to take the chance to cross in strong winds,” he said.

“Hopefully, we can work together to come up with a satisfactory solution to the problem.”

Dunfermline East MSP Helen Eadie has written to transport secretary Stewart Stevenson to seek a resolution to the problems.

She said congestion was becoming more of a problem on both sides of the bridge.

“The fact is, the police are very concerned that it’s too late to stop the lorries by the time they get past a certain point on the approach to the bridge,” she said.

Dunfermline and West Fife MP Willie Rennie has also joined the debate and said, “Relief that the tolls have been abolished has been replaced by despair at the massive queues.

“Lothian police must put more resources into this problem by placing police checks further back up the roads leading to the bridge.

“Stopping these lorries at an earlier stage will allow them to be diverted which would have little affect on the traffic.”

Comments

Fifetraveller

May 4 08 12:24

Our Ref: 508

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I find the comments from FETA and Tony Martin a reflection on the poor standard and service that this Quango delivers.

Let's be clear. The delays on the bridge recently are down to poor planning and organisation and not about toll removal issues. There are no signs approaching the bridge from the South advising of closures.

The M9 spur is a mess and has not alleviated queues on the bridge. Having a motorway link that filters into one lane is a joke. It's junction with the M9 is a major traffic accident waiting to happen. There was no alteration of traffic flow sequence at Newbridge when the Spur opened leading to dangerous queuing on the M9.

FETA has been responsible for traffic management and they have failed dismally. Trying to blame these failures on toll removal is a gross misleading claim that fools nobody.

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simonvcm

May 20 08 13:19

Our Ref: 543

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It seems that any incident involving the bridge closure or traffic restrictions FETA continually blames the removal of the Toll booths that would have prevented the issue.

In recent bride closures involving lorries blowing over and blocking the carriageway, FETA are just about to close or the bridge has just re-opened, one of the first lorry's let through coinciding with a freak gust of wind, as the reason for the incident - may be this is a coincidence. From memory this occured even when the toll booths were still in place!

I concur with the Fifetraveller ref:508 comments, surely FETA can provide distinct & clear signage down stream of the bridge to warn lorries not to proceed further due closure to high sided vehicles and give them enough warning to divert away from the bridge.

Whatever is to blame a more robust "high wind" strategy is required, relying on the police to divert high sided vehicles at the bridge entrance point, is clearly too late by this point.

In addition re: the closure of the bridge due to the accident yesterday. There was no warning on the approach to the M90 from the M9 spur that an incident had occurred, motorists had to be reliant on the local radio station Forth radio for information, reason for the closure and whne the bridge was due to re-open.

"In summary improved signage at an earlier point in the lead up to the bridge together with a robust "high wind" strategy is needed"

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