By Aileen Robertson

IT NOW looks unlikely the Forth Road Bridge will be closed to heavy lorries in five years, following the announcement a new bridge is on its way.

Tony Martin, the convener of Forth Estuary Transport Authority, admitted the deadline could be reviewed with the long term future of the bridge a less urgent concern.

Back in November 2005, Tavish Scott, who was transport minister at the time, told a Scottish Parliament debate the bridge could close to heavy lorries in 2013.

His announcement infuriated members of the FETA board, who said they had been kept in the dark about the findings of a study commissioned by Mr Scott, only to read about it in the papers.

Since then, despite millions of pounds being invested in drying out the insides of the cables to prevent further damage, it has been widely accepted that the bridge could close to lorries in 2013 and be closed completely in 2019.

However, now a new bridge is scheduled to be complete in 2017, those dates have been called into question.

Mr Martin said, “Once a new structure is being built, from a health and safety point of view, we would be able to look again at the load bearing capacity of the main cable because we would be about five years away from having a new crossing.

“The chances of us having to restrict HGVs are certainly something that could be re-looked at once the new bridge was being constructed.”

Wednesday’s traffic chaos was a stark warning of what could happen if the bridge was taken out of use before the new one is up and running.

Kincardine councillor Willie Ferguson was hopeful such a scenario would be avoided.

He said, “It’s early days yet, but we’re hoping that the announcement about the new bridge will mean they can maybe look at the figures again and reassess the situation. They may be able to extend the period of use until the new bridge is up and running.”

Worst hit by the closure of the Forth Road Bridge on Wednesday, which resulted after a painting rig on the south tower was damaged in high winds, was the village of Kincardine.

As commuters and HGVs made diversions over the Kincardine Bridge, roads around the village were brought to a standstill.

Mr Ferguson continued, “If they stuck to the by-pass that would be fine but what we experienced on Wednesday was the by-pass became gridlocked and vehicles came off that on to the old road. They basically used any route at all to get to the bridge, including going through the housing estate and gridlocking Toll Road.”

As well as road hauliers suffering because of higher fuel costs, villages along the coastal road such as Culross and Torryburn could suffer if Fife was left with no bridge at Queensferry.

“The Torryburn by-pass is the main artery. If that were to close because of an accident, what is the alternative? The roads going through Blairhall and Culross,” said Mr Ferguson.

“That’s a major concern and it has already been flagged up by Culross and Torryburn community councils.”

Roy McCormack, a former chairman of Culross Community Council, said there would be “pandemonium” in the village if there was no alternative to crossing the Forth at Kincardine.

“They would use the place as a rat run,” he said.