TRANSPORT chiefs have been accused of “pulling the wool” over people’s eyes by claiming the Forth Road Bridge chaos could not have been foreseen.
John Carson, the engineer who led the team that built the Skye Bridge, blasted the government agency in charge of the crossing for mothballing a plan to strengthen a vital part five years ago.
He said Friday’s closure can be directly linked to the decision.
Mr Carson, former head of one of the country’s biggest engineering firms, Miller Civil Engineering, also warned that commuters face months of travel hell as a consequence. He said: “I fear we’re in for the long haul on this.”
The bridge was shut for at least three weeks after fractures were spotted in a load-bearing beam called a “truss end link member” in the north-east tower.
The member is part of a linkage system which, as documents obtained by The Sunday Post from 2010 show, was found to “be significantly overstressed during certain combinations of loading”.
A strengthening programme was ordered and then almost immediately cancelled before work finally got under way again this year.
Transport Scotland last night insisted the strengthening programme and last week’s problem are “unrelated”, but Mr Carson dismissed this while warning that repairs could take months.
He said: “I think Transport Scotland is trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. This is political dynamite.
“On the one hand they tell us they know about the strengthening issue, but they seem to have ignored it for a long period. Now they are saying that a weld on the pin end which is on the truss end is a big surprise.
“I don’t think so this is incompetence on Transport Scotland’s part.
“Transport Scotland’s claims that these two things are unrelated are nonsense and we need to know why this has not been a bigger priority given it has been known about for five years.
“Looking at the crack it is not new and there has to be questions on how long has traffic been allowed over a bridge that is now unsafe.”
Mr Carson added: “The claim that this repair will take weeks is incredibly doubtful it will be months.
“Once a solution is devised you will need to do non-destructive testing and to do that you have to get up close and personal to the problem area.
“You can’t do that in the winds the bridge experiences over winter.”
A report for the now defunct Forth Estuary Transport Authority, published in 2010 and obtained by this newspaper, put the estimated cost of replacing the truss end links at £15 million.
However, bridge bosses decided against going ahead with the work.
They cited a number of reasons including cost, complexity and the potential disruption it would cause to bridge users.
Following analysis it was ruled upgrading the truss ends rather than replacing them was the best option.
FETA then called for engineering firms to tender for the work, but that was later cancelled and the work was put on the back-burner. Transport Scotland last night could not offer an explanation as to why the work was axed.
But a spokesman said strengthening work in the north-west tower leg was completed in May this year and operator Amey is working towards extending this work to the other three tower legs.
A number of staff left FETA when it was abolished earlier this year and its maintenance role put out to private tender with transport firm Amey under the control of the Scottish Government.
Among them were bridgemaster Barry Colford and engineering manager Chris Tracey, who had a combined 34 years’ experience.
Alastair Andrew, bridgemaster of the crossing until 2008, said work to fix the bridge will be tough.
He explained: “This is an incredibly difficult place to be doing work.
“They have to design another solution for supporting the weight before they carry out the repairs and in this time of the year it can be so unforgiving on the bridge.”
Asked about the abolition of FETA and changes to the way maintenance is funded, he said: “When I was in charge we obviously had the toll revenue.
“That’s gone now but that was £12 million a year towards a growing list of maintenance demands from a bridge long outliving its projected life-span.
“We had the three local authorities as the board and by and large if you went to them with a plan for maintenance spending, they would back you.
“My successor Barry Colford did not have this option and he had to request funding through Transport Scotland.”
Transport Scotland last night robustly defended itself.
A spokesman said:“The Scottish Government has fully funded all FETA programmes since taking over the funding of the annual grant in 2008.
“Prior to its dissolution, FETA made decisions on its programme and priorities of repairs completely independently of Transport Scotland.
“Amey has informed us the ongoing truss end strengthening works are to a different part of the truss end linkage system to that which failed this week.
“The truss end link member was not previously identified as requiring strengthening or to be at risk of failure.
“The unexpected nature of weld cracking leading to failure is highly unpredictable and this issue is unrelated to the other strengthening works.
“It’s deeply regrettable that when Amey has made every effort to explain the background to a complex situation, others are seeking to create mischief and apportion blame.”
The cost
The closure of the Forth Road Bridge will hammer the country’s economy by at least £1.3 million a day, we can reveal.
Various estimates have put the overall cost of the shutdown at tens of millions of pounds.
But our reporters have uncovered a study prepared for bridge bosses which shows closing just one side of the dual carriageway damages the economy by precisely £650,000 a day in lost productivity.
With both lanes now closed on the crossing until at least January, it means the overall cost of the disruption is likely to run to a minimum of £27 million.
Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “The closure is catastrophic especially for our economy and there are very serious questions to be answered as to how this situation was allowed to develop.”
In 2008, consultants were asked to work out the “travel time delay costs” to drivers caught up in any disruption associated with the cable work.
They concluded that closing a single carriageway of the 51-year-old bridge would cost the economy £650,000 a day.
The study concluded that up to 3,200 jobs on both sides of the Forth would be put at risk by prolonged disruption.More trains and buses to ease pain and ferry may helpEXTRA trains and buses will be put on from tomorrow to tackle disruption caused by the bridge closure.
Additional rolling stock will see new train services put in place by Scotrail between Cowdenbeath and Haymarket, providing an extra 6,500 seats per day for passengers.
Stagecoach will also run 30 extra buses as part of an enhanced park and ride priority service between Fife and Edinburgh, using the Ferrytoll and Halbeath sites.
It’s hoped the move will help ease travel chaos caused by the closure.
Transport Minister Derek Mackay said: “We know this will be a very difficult time for commuters, businesses and hauliers.
“From tomorrow, commuters will be able to access a dedicated website offering detailed information on these updated travel options.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and adapt our travel plan as required.”
Ministers have also said traffic flowing north into Scotland is being encouraged to use routes on the west of the country to ease congestion.
Thousands of commuters have switched to using trains while the road bridge is closed.
However, commuters won’t have that option on Christmas Day after ScotRail stated that, as in past years, it is not planning to operate that day.
Two businessmen are trying to source ships to tackle travel chaos caused by the closure.
John Lidderdale and Alistair McLeod are behind ambitious plans to run a cross-Forth hovercraft between Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh.
The craft intended for that route is not ready yet.
However, the pair have been looking at the possibility of using ferries from the Mediterranean to re-open a crossing between North and South Queensferry using existing tidal ramps.
If approved, each ferry could transport 38 cars at a time.
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Forth Road Bridge: Travel delays to continue as closure set to last into the new year
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