A key freight bridge that links Edinburgh to the north east of Scotland has reopened ahead of schedule following crucial refurbishment.
The Forth Bridge closed on 3 December after engineers found a crack in the steelwork and began strengthening work. Its reopening has been delayed twice, with completion finally rescheduled for mid March. However, Transport Scotland announced work has been completed early and reopened the bridge on Saturday 20 February.
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) welcomed the early reopening, but said the financial impact of the lengthy closure should not be forgotten.
“While this is fantastic news for freight operators, we must not forget that the closure caused severe disruption at the worst possible time of year. The financial impact for some operators was devastating,” said FTA head of policy, Chris MacRae.
FTA said it was asked to provide feedback from its members during the closure, and said one parcel operator reported additional costs of £11,000 a week for fuel and drivers due to the 50-mile detour made necessary by the closure. Drivers’ hours rules were relaxed three times to compensate for the additional journey times.
MacRae added: “Lessons must be learned about the importance of maintaining critical national infrastructure like the Forth Road Bridge. We mustn’t get into a situation like this again.”
