West Fife commuters face months of travel misery
Ally McRoberts • Published 14 Mar 2012 14:30
5 Comments
WEST FIFE motorists face months of travel misery with major works on the Forth Road Bridge AND the M90 motorway.
Drivers at risk of overheating in miles of queues have been warned - avoid the area, take a bus or train or risk hours of delays.
There will also be six months of night-time rockblasting at Ferrytoll, next to the motorway, which could cause tailbacks.
It all starts this weekend with urgent repair work on the Forth Road Bridge.
Traffic will be restricted to a single lane in each direction from 3am to 12 noon on both Saturday and Sunday.
Restrictions could stretch into the afternoons, or even Monday, if the weather isn't favourable and the bridge authority warned that work will also take place on Saturday 31st March and Sunday 1st April and a further two weekends after Easter still to be confirmed.
Pedestrians and cyclists will still be able to cross the bridge.
Barry Colford, chief engineer and bridgemaster, said, "We'll do everything we can to minimise disruption but appreciate that significant delays are inevitable.
"We're sorry for the inconvenience it will cause.
"Our advice is to avoid using the bridge at these times, take an alternative route or use public transport."
At the same time, Transport Scotland announced six weeks of roadworks, starting on Monday 9th April, on the M90 between Halbeath and Admiralty.
It's part of the work for the new Forth Replacement Crossing and a contraflow system will be in operation.
Two lanes will be maintained in each direction on weekdays - delays are expected to be up to 30 minutes during peak periods - but this will go down to one lane in each direction on four consecutive weekends, when delays could be "two hours or more".
Spokesman Steven Brown said, "Our message is simple - avoid using this route if at all possible over these weekends in April and May.
"There will be additional capacity on the public transport network and we would advise motorists to take advantage of this."
The weekend restrictions will last from 8pm on Friday to 6am on Monday on 20th-23rd April, 27th-30th April and from 4th-7th May.
There will also be a contraflow over the weekend of 11th-14th May to allow the contractor to carry out works on the northbound carriageway over Masterton Bridge.
Southbound slip roads serving the M90 will be closed at different periods to allow the works to take place, with diversion routes in operation.
This will begin with the closure of the southbound on-slip from the A985 at Junction 1 (Admiralty) from Monday 2nd April for approximately 14 days.
Transport Scotland said, "If travelling on this route is unavoidable at these times, motorists are advised to allow significant additional time to complete their journey, particularly if they are journeying to special events or taking flights from Edinburgh Airport."
And Mr Brown said, "In the planning of these works we have endeavoured to reduce the inconvenience and disruption these works will have on the travelling public but significant delays will unfortunately be unavoidable.
"That is why we are working closely with public transport operators to encourage people to plan journeys very carefully and wherever possible leave their vehicle at home."
Scotrail will be providing additional capacity on 30 weekend services crossing the Forth to mitigate the impact of the works.
The rock-blasting work, scheduled to last for six months, is also part of the new road bridge project and will start from Friday 6th April and continue at fortnightly intervals.
The blasting should have no direct impact on road users but, for safety reasons, roads in the area will close for up to half an hour at a time from around 10pm.
A rolling road block will be put in place by police for southbound traffic and northbound traffic will be held at the Forth Road Bridge.
Emergency repair work was scheduled for last weekend on the road bridge but strong winds and gusts of more than 45mph meant it could not be completed.
It was planned at short notice after an inspection discovered a number of nuts were cracked on the bolts that hold the vertical hanger ropes to the bridge's main suspension cables.
Mr Colford said, "Unfortunately these works are essential - if we don't get them completed then we could face far more disruptive and costly repairs at a future date.
"The majority of the repair works will be carried out overnight or without the need for traffic restrictions, however, daylight and a carriageway closure are necessary for us to safely provide access to the main cable.
"We'll begin putting out cones at 3am on Saturday so that we're ready to start work on the cable at first light and we'll remove the traffic restrictions as soon as we possibly can."
He said that they were also speaking to Transport Scotland in an effort to minimise disruption resulting from the two projects.
This article appeared in Dunfermline Press 14 Mar 12
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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logster
28 posts
Mar 14, 17:03
Report commentShould have went with a tunnel it would have been cheaper and completed quicker with very few delays.
Recommend?
Yes 16
No 7
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AxlRose
1 post
Mar 14, 17:14
Report commentI don't see how it would have made any difference if they were building a tunnel - they would still need to improve the approach roads and link it in to the existing road network.
Recommend? Yes 11
No 3
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hottie2
40 posts
Mar 14, 19:06
Report commentGreat more delays have to leave earlier for work and get home later aswell.
Recommend? Yes 9
No 0
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Mikeintheknow
37 posts
Mar 14, 19:27
Report comment"There will be additional capacity on the public transport network and we would advise motorists to take advantage of this."
Thats great.. The Ferrytoll is on the other side of the works.....hopeful the trains will have 3 carriages instead of 2....
Recommend? Yes 8
No 1
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ItsErnie
202 posts
Apr 10, 20:51
Report comment'Months of travel misery' eh?
So what's new?
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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