Forth Replacement Crossing

[Burns]

I stay three miles from Cupar so it is the leading plan at the moment.

Up to about two, maybe three years ago, I wouldn't be worried about crossing the Forth but the traffic has ballooned in recent years to the point where any trip south of the river requires special planning. I sometimes have to work in Penicuik so on those occasions, I leave my home at 5:30am so that I'm off the bypass before 7am. A bit extreme, maybe but it's a lot less stressful.

[AndyB]

Granted, I have only ever approached Edinburgh Airport from Balerno (and therefore via Gogarburn and past RBS), but I've never had problems accessing it from the A8... could be a YMMV thing

[Halmyre]

I think he's referring to Eastfield Road which is a truly appalling piece of road whose primary aim is to take you to where you don't want to go.

[wrinkly]

FRB to partially reopen tomorrow:

https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/for ... -business/

[Berk]

Am I right in thinking that the northbound on-slips from the A/M90 were removed?? So you’d have to go via the A904...

[smidget]

Am I right in thinking that the northbound on-slips from the A/M90 were removed?? So you’d have to go via the A904...

Correct. That was one of things that got descoped when they cut the budget. It was meant to be free flow at both ends and isn’t now. There are barriers that can be removed so traffic can be diverted onto the old bridge if the new one has to be closed.

[Nwallace]

Crossed for the first and 2nd times yesterday, dark both times.

Thought the ride was pretty smooth, none of the crashing over expansion joints you get on the Forth and Tay bridges.
Bit odd there's only carriageway lighting on the Lothian end of the bridge, is this something that's still being installed, or is it because there's still ongoing works?

Odd thing is, going over the FRB always felt like an event, even the TRB feels a bit event like and I go over it almost every day, where as the NFRB just felt like another motorway bridge. Maybe it'll be different in daylight.

Oh and what's going on at the Glenfarg junction? If I'd know it was closed I'd have gone by the A92 but the first warning was at Kinross???

[cb a1]

Crossed for the first and 2nd times yesterday, dark both times.

Thought the ride was pretty smooth, none of the crashing over expansion joints you get on the Forth and Tay bridges.
Bit odd there's only carriageway lighting on the Lothian end of the bridge, is this something that's still being installed, or is it because there's still ongoing works?

Odd thing is, going over the FRB always felt like an event, even the TRB feels a bit event like and I go over it almost every day, where as the NFRB just felt like another motorway bridge. Maybe it'll be different in daylight.

I did my first and second time earlier this week but in daylight so didn't notice any difference in carriageway lighting.

In terms of it feeling like an event, the main 'event' for me being on the Queensferry Crossing (NFRB ) was being able to look over to the other bridges, albeit trying to see them through the windshields, rather than the crossing itself.

The bridge is truly spectacular to look at from a distance but somewhat mundane up close. That in itself isn't a bad thing as you really want drivers to be concentrating on the road and the vehicles around them rather than staring in wonder at the bridge.

[Duncan macknight]

Crossed for the first and 2nd times yesterday, dark both times.

Thought the ride was pretty smooth, none of the crashing over expansion joints you get on the Forth and Tay bridges.
Bit odd there's only carriageway lighting on the Lothian end of the bridge, is this something that's still being installed, or is it because there's still ongoing works?

Odd thing is, going over the FRB always felt like an event, even the TRB feels a bit event like and I go over it almost every day, where as the NFRB just felt like another motorway bridge. Maybe it'll be different in daylight.

Oh and what's going on at the Glenfarg junction? If I'd know it was closed I'd have gone by the A92 but the first warning was at Kinross???

I believe they are doing a bit of bridge maintenance at M90 J8. Shouldn’t take too long...

[Chris5156]

Bit odd there's only carriageway lighting on the Lothian end of the bridge, is this something that's still being installed, or is it because there's still ongoing works?

I think the lighting that's up is all the lighting there will be. It was my understanding that the bridge itself wouldn't be lit, apart from some architectural lighting of the structure, and there doesn't seem to be much that's particularly troubling about the northern approach that might need it either.

[Burns]

Oh and what's going on at the Glenfarg junction? If I'd know it was closed I'd have gone by the A92 but the first warning was at Kinross???

I got caught out by that about a month ago. I find the stop-start nature of the A92 around Glenrothes tedious but I'd have taken that over a tour of Kinross and Milnathort.

[Nwallace]

Bit odd there's only carriageway lighting on the Lothian end of the bridge, is this something that's still being installed, or is it because there's still ongoing works?

I think the lighting that's up is all the lighting there will be. It was my understanding that the bridge itself wouldn't be lit, apart from some architectural lighting of the structure, and there doesn't seem to be much that's particularly troubling about the northern approach that might need it either.

Just seems a bit odd that for about 250m of the bridge the road surface is lit, and then, nothing.

Oh and what's going on at the Glenfarg junction? If I'd know it was closed I'd have gone by the A92 but the first warning was at Kinross???

I got caught out by that about a month ago. I find the stop-start nature of the A92 around Glenrothes tedious but I'd have taken that over a tour of Kinross and Milnathort.

At night it's not so bad, you can usually roll up to all the roundabouts, which is considerably better than getting stuck behind someone that slows to 20 when there's an oncoming car, or corner, or leaf on the road from BoE all the way to the big straight just before Newburgh.

[Duncan macknight]

I took a bus ride over to Edinburgh yesterday and was quite happy to cross the forth road bridge once again. Southbound the sliproads are not entirely finished but buses can ride on them. Northbound however buses have to come off at Queensferry Junction and have to join the bridge that way as the offslip has not been opened yet. Same again at the northbound side not fully done but getting there.

[GrahameCase]

Was over the new FRC yesterday southbound at midday - what is it with people slowing down to 20mph across it ?

[stuartf]

The speed limit on the new bridge has been raised to 50 mph. Traffic was moving very well this morning, although still a few drivers dawdling.

I walked across the old bridge at the weekend. Very peaceful: the regular 747 Inverkeithing-Edinburgh airport bus and a small number of limited stop express buses are the only things going across, plus a few vehicles connected to the works. They're building a signalised at-grade pedestrian crossing at the north end too, presumably to provide access to bus stops. Lots of cones. Also a bit sad looking at the old signage for the bridge on the north approach, some of which is now down a steep bank where they raised the road surface. No wide or slow vehicles will be stopping there any more.

[Halmyre]

From my POV, the congestion southbound on the approach to the bridge (~6:30) was just as bad - the queue tailed back to Admiralty and practically at a standstill where the on-slip from Ferrytoll joined. After that the speed picked up slowly as usual but was generally moving at ~50mph by the end of the bridge.

So the problem is still traffic joining from Ferrytoll, exacerbated by the light-controlled roundabout dumping large numbers of vehicles up the slip road all at once (a similar problem occurs northbound from the 'new' Echline roundabout). Which beggars the question - where is all the traffic coming from? There always seems to be a large flow from the port of Rosyth which makes me wonder if traffic from the west is using the road network as a 'rat-run'.

[Nwallace]

Was over again this weekend; the road lighting that I noted at the South end last time is also present at the north end.

Daylight on the way south and a clear run
Night time on the way back and pretty much crawled all the way from the A7 junction to Halbeath.

[Roadtripper_Ian]

Had a browse on the Transport Scotland cameras page to check the weather for colleagues heading to Wick.

They have the FRB now classified as the B981...

https://trafficscotland.org/livetrafficcameras/

[A72]

Had a browse on the Transport Scotland cameras page to check the weather for colleagues heading to Wick.

They have the FRB now classified as the B981...

https://trafficscotland.org/livetrafficcameras/

Someone has cocked-up. The B981 runs from North Queensferry to the A92, at Kirkcaldy.

Nothing, apart from the road signs seems to know what to call it!
Google Maps is still calling it A90.
OSM has it un-numbered.
My AA 2018 road atlas also has it un-numbered.
Ordnance Survey has it as A9000, though.

[Nwallace]

Only one tower is shown as that, the other is still A90.