Salmond’s folly? I’m glad I didn’t view a new Forth crossing as a bridge too far

Shortly after I took office as First Minister a report landed on my desk with one almighty thump. It detailed the serious problems with the steel cabling on the Forth Road Bridge.

It also showed how successive governments for more than 20 years had pigeon-holed the case to build a third crossing.

A further report also detailed the likelihood of success of drying out the cables with the equivalent of a giant hair dryer. I still decided to go ahead with the building of the new bridge.

The indications were that the existing road bridge was suffering from many years of much heavier traffic than had ever been expected in the 1950s when it was designed. It was simple wear and tear and as soon as you sorted one problem another would likely emerge.

And the real problem was that, while any engineering repair could be handled, it would inevitably mean prolonged closures of the bridge.

And the cost of closing the Forth Road Bridge even for short period was prohibitive as we have seen over the last week.

One of the reasons we need a new bridge is so that proper repairs can be made to the existing road bridge.