Published: Thursday, 19th March, 2009 12:25pm

New Forth crossing 'a costly mistake'

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A LEADING anti-bridge campaigner has claimed West Fifers have been duped by ministers in the case for a 'costly' and 'unnecessary' second Forth bridge.

Lawrence Marshall, chair of Forthright Alliance, said that encouraging results from the de-humidification of the current bridge"s cables mean it could still be fully functional until 2084, completing its planned 120-year life span.

The former chairman of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Feta) spoke at a meeting held in South Queensferry on Tuesday evening to present the case against building an expensive second bridge.

Prior to the meeting, he said, 'The essential facts are that the bridge was sold on a misleading claim and that ministers could not be sure the cables could be repaired.

'The cables are now being dried out and this process has yielded encouraging results.

'In addition, the chief engineer said last year that he was highly confident the de-humidification would arrest the corrosion which was the only justification John Swinney gave for spending billions on a new bridge.

'The finance secretary keeps shifting the goalposts in order to justify a politically motivated project which will be a disaster.'

Feta are undertaking dehumidification work to prevent corrosion of the main cables which has weakened the bridge by 10 per cent.

They have not guaranteed it will be a success until results of the work are revealed in 2011.

But the Scottish Government is already going ahead with work for the second bridge, to be opened in late 2016 at a cost of £2.3 billion.

More concerns were raised earlier this week after project manager Lawrence Shackman told a transport engineering conference in Glasgow that rebuilding the Ferrytoll junction at North Queensferry could prove more complicated and challenging than building the bridge itself.

A Transport Scotland spokesman played down the 'off the cuff' remark and said, 'Lawrence was emphasising that compared to other junctions, this will be complicated because the A90 will remain open.

'Of course it"s more than a straightforward road procedure but building the bridge will be the main challenge for engineers.'

Residents of North Queensferry will bear the brunt of the remodelling work at the junction which will shift the dual carriageway from facing the existing bridge towards the new crossing.

Brian Armstrong, secretary of the village"s community council, said, 'Overall there"s apprehension about the disruption.

'There has to be a need for materials dumped and portakabins and we"ve said strongly that we do not want any of it anywhere within the village – there"s no room.

'They (Transport Scotland) said they have some ideas, but won"t reveal them, and that"s a bit of a concern.

'We"re not looking forward whatsoever to the noise, the dust, the dirt and the disruption, all we can hope is that they minimise it.'

Despite the criticisms, many politicians across the party spectrum remain in favour of the new crossing.

Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, said, 'I strongly believe that it would be a major mistake for everyone in the East Central region of Scotland if this new crossing does not proceed as a matter of urgency.'

She hopes repair works on the existing bridge are completed quickly for additional capacity across the Forth for light rapid transport or a tram line into Fife.

'Anything less will be a travesty for Scotland,' she added.