Published: Thursday, 21st February, 2008 9:45am

FETA counts the cost of cables

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THE REAL cost of replacing the rusting cables on the Forth Road Bridge before a new crossing is open could be around £2.5 billion as well as the loss of 3200 jobs.

That"s the stark warning from the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Feta), who are trying to halt the spread of rust in the 44-year-old bridge"s cables.

If that"s unsuccessful, they may have to replace or augment the cables which could cost up to £122 million and take up to nine years.

However, the effect on the economy in terms of travel delay, traffic disruption and the impact on business would be far more significant.

A study, to be presented at Feta"s board meeting tomorrow (Friday) states that carriageway closures over a long period would potentially result in economic output falling by around £1 billion, a drop in turnover in excess of £1.3 billion and the loss of 3200 jobs, some permanently.

Feta"s convenor, Fife councillor Tony Martin, said, 'These new figures reinforce what we already thought – replacing or augmenting the cables without an alternative crossing in place is something to be avoided if at all possible.

'They also demonstrate the huge value of the Forth Road Bridge to Scotland"s economy.

'These are big numbers and the effects would be most strongly felt in Fife.

'Jobs and businesses would suffer, as would the environment through increased vehicle emissions caused by delays.'

But Mr Martin added, 'It should be remembered, however, that cable replacement will only be necessary if current work to dry out the cables fails to prevent further deterioration.

'We"re optimistic that this will succeed but we"ve said all along that there is no guarantee.

'That"s why we"ve commissioned this study, it gives us a head start in the worst-case scenario if current work fails.

'The Scottish Government has also now provided a firm commitment to a new Forth crossing.

'There was no such commitment when this study was commissioned, with a new crossing in place the wider economic impact of replacing the cables would disappear.'

There are three options to replace or augment the cables but each would require significant periods of lane closures and contraflows during peak hours as well as total closures at night and at weekends.

To assess the impact, traffic modelling was carried out and indicated that the 'travel time disbenefit' cost of a weekday carriageway closure would be £650,000 per day.