Forth Replacement Crossing

[djw1981]

Councillors are not directlyresponsible for hospitals (one or two may sit on the health board)

[orudge]

Sadly it appears a worker has been killed, and another injured, on site today.

[orudge]

Apparently the new bridge will not open on time (it was due to open in December). A statement will be made to the Scottish Parliament later.

[Glen]

"By the end of 2016" was always a target given by the contractor to get traffic on the bridge. The contract is due to be completed by mid 2017, so it is just behind their previous estimated opening date. The work is still likely to be completed on schedule and well under budget.

[Halmyre]

I was starting to wonder about the December completion date. Progress seems to have slowed down a bit just recently. The first deck sections went up in August/September last year; the north and south towers are almost touching their respective approach viaducts.

Dammit, another whole winter of bloody traffic congestion.

[cb a1]

Dammit, another whole winter of bloody traffic congestion.

Remember what this is called ... 'replacement'.

There might be slightly less regular congestion, but you've pretty much still got the same volume of traffic trying to get through 2 lanes. If they do manage to conjure up some extra capacity, the suppressed demand will gobble that up in days.

Should be fewer 'bad congestion' days due to breakdowns (assuming the vehicles get to the hard shoulder) albeit you won't get as many days when high-sided vehicles are banned.

If I were travelling this route regularly, I would be setting my expectations at 'no net improvement'.

[orudge]

I still think there would have been some merit in making the road D3M, and widening the M90 as far as the A92 turn-off. I know the "intelligent transport system" does I believe support hard shoulder running, but a permanent third lane would be helpful - as long as lane 1 doesn't then end up empty!

Then D3M for the M8 and A720 please...

[Truvelo]

I wonder why they're behind schedule? All this fine weather should speed things up. It's not as if there's the excuse of frost stopping concrete drying quickly.

[Glen]

The installation of the cable stayed deck relies on craning the deck sections from barges and the firth is known for its occasional high winds which would delay the lifting operations.

[wrinkly]

Statement here:

http://www.transport.gov.scot/news/weat ... y-crossing

Since September 2015 the downtime due to adverse weather, specifically wind, has been 40 per cent compared to the 25 per cent anticipated by the contractor. Until May, FCBC believed that they could mitigate these effects - however, the impact of the weather in April and May with 13 days and 12 days lost to weather was such that they have advised that they can no longer deliver the December 2016 target.

[Burns]

I still think there would have been some merit in making the road D3M, and widening the M90 as far as the A92 turn-off. I know the "intelligent transport system" does I believe support hard shoulder running, but a permanent third lane would be helpful - as long as lane 1 doesn't then end up empty!

Then D3M for the M8 and A720 please...

Give it a few years and I'm sure we'll see one bridge northbound and the other southbound.

I think the A720 needs to be D4 in a 2+2 arrangement (at least between the M8 and the A701 anyway). That way, through traffic has it's own two lanes whilst all the traffic coming on and off can use the C/D lanes, thus reducing the amount of weaving and stop/start in rush hour with traffic trying to merge onto an already nearly full road.

[Gav]

some photos from this evening

[novaecosse]

The installation of the cable stayed deck relies on craning the deck sections from barges and the firth is known for its occasional high winds which would delay the lifting operations.

Weather impacts on Queensferry Crossing

There's an interesting diagram showing the wind profile for different heights above the River Forth.

I don't fancy the job stringing the tendons stuck in a wee basket that high up!

[Mark Hewitt]

Then D3M for the M8 and A720 please...

Give it a few years and I'm sure we'll see one bridge northbound and the other southbound.
[/quote]

Well the existing bridge isn't going away so there must be *some* traffic benefit and some traffic who will continue to use the old bridge?

[Glen]

Public transport, non-motorway traffic, pedestrians and cyclists will continue to use the Forth Road Bridge.

[Halmyre]

Dammit, another whole winter of bloody traffic congestion.

Remember what this is called ... 'replacement'.

There might be slightly less regular congestion, but you've pretty much still got the same volume of traffic trying to get through 2 lanes. If they do manage to conjure up some extra capacity, the suppressed demand will gobble that up in days.

Should be fewer 'bad congestion' days due to breakdowns (assuming the vehicles get to the hard shoulder) albeit you won't get as many days when high-sided vehicles are banned.

If I were travelling this route regularly, I would be setting my expectations at 'no net improvement'.

There is that, but I'm hoping (probably forlornly) that with the wider lanes, hard shoulders and better road quality, the traffic will flow a bit better.

[coneman]

The installation of the cable stayed deck relies on craning the deck sections from barges and the firth is known for its occasional high winds which would delay the lifting operations.

Weather impacts on Queensferry Crossing

There's an interesting diagram showing the wind profile for different heights above the River Forth.

I don't fancy the job stringing the tendons stuck in a wee basket that high up!

I tell you what , Was I the only one watching that video of the cable tendons getting installed hanging onto the chair with white knuckles ?.

[The Devil's Armpit]

Pish and Tish, methinks they doth be most economical with the truth.

The weather has been well behaved over the construction period with winters being very mild and
little snow and ice. God knows how far behind they would be if we had had normal sub-zero Scottish winters
of the vintage we had 40 years ago.

[alans]

As recently as March they were confidently estimating a December opening and now barely 3 months later they are saying a 6 month delay due to adverse weather and 25 lost days work in April and May.And I thought my maths were bad but these people need to go back to school !

[Glen]

Pish and Tish, methinks they doth be most economical with the truth.

The weather has been well behaved over the construction period with winters being very mild and
little snow and ice. God knows how far behind they would be if we had had normal sub-zero Scottish winters
of the vintage we had 40 years ago.

It's the wind speed rather than the temperature which has been affecting the work. The deck installation has been a series of lifting operations, which is heavily reliant on what the wind is doing.

As recently as March they were confidently estimating a December opening and now barely 3 months later they are saying a 6 month delay due to adverse weather and 25 lost days work in April and May.And I thought my maths were bad but these people need to go back to school !

They were quoting the end of the year estimate until the day before they announced the revised date, that's how these things work, there wasn't an official "maybes aye, maybes naw" statement in between.

I think the point is that the deck installation running behind schedule is pushing other work into the winter months, so they need to plan more time to do work than if it had been able to be done in the autumn. And the nature of most of the work means it has to be done in a certain order, they can't necessarily move onto other tasks while waiting for the right conditions to do another.