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Forth Bridge closures 'put strain on hauliers' profits'
Page 12
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-lauliers were forced to take long detours more frequently last year as he Forth Bridge shut for a total of 11 days. Chris Tindall reports.
'HE FORTI I ROAD Bridge was losed to LGVs for a total of 11 ays last year, piling the pressure n hauliers who are forced to use lternative routes.
Figures released by bridge perator Forth Estuary Transport ,uthority (Feta) show high winds ere the cause, forcing drivers to aye! 20 miles out of their way )1260 hours between April 2006 -id March 2007, the highest for years.
This has dropped to 93 hours. around four days, for the irrent year so far, but the Freight .ansport Association (FTA) says still puts a strain on hauliers' .ofitability.
"There's a cost to the industry the economy,"says Gavin Scott, FA head of policy in Scotland. 'he problem is, of course, that len the bridge is closed to high sided vehicles, the alternative bridge gets chock-a-block as well."
Scott says he has been told by consultants that the new bridge crossing being built in 2011 will not suffer from closures due to wind because the problem has been "engineered out". However, tunnel campaigners are using the Feta figures to argue that a new bridge is a flawed enterprise. Scott responds: "If there was a tunnel, there would be restrictions on that; there would be no whisky lorries, no petrol tankers allowed through the tunnel."
A Feta spokesman denies the figures reveal a trend of increasing closures: "These figures are a simple statement of fact — the number of hours the bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles each year. We'd be wary of reading too much into them."
• Feta says LGVs would not be able to use the "mini-bridges" it is considering using on the Forth Road Bridge next year to keep traffic flowing. The ramps would sit over main expansion joints allowing workers to rebuild worn-out components while traffic flowed overhead, slashing the impact of roadworks. But councillor Tony Martin, Feta convener, says: "LGVs would probably not be able to cross the bridge in one direction during the works, but that represents only 3% of its total traffic. Feedback from the haulage industry is positive, as this scheme would prevent the alternative routes from becoming gridlocked."