By Bruce Robbins

FREE PASSAGE for drivers over the River Tay is imminent after the granting yesterday of Royal Assent for the Bill to abolish tolls.

Only new signs on approach roads—and the formality of transport minister Stewart Stevenson signing the relevant order—stand in the way.

Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick welcomed the news and said the Scottish Government and the board now had to instruct workmen to carry out the necessary sign alterations.

He said, “I was told by the minister they don’t have an absolute date and we are waiting to see how quickly they can mobilise a crew to re-sign the approaches.”

Mr Fitzpatrick added, “I’ve been given an assurance it will be before February 14.”

The job of re-signing the bridge ramps falls to the board while trunk roads authority, BEAR Scotland, has the duty to provide new signs on the approach roads.

Abolition of the tolls was the main item on the agenda of a special meeting in Dundee yesterday of the Tay Road Bridge joint board.

Board clerk Patricia McIlquham said it was hoped tolls would disappear in the first week of February.

She said negotiations with board staff had gone very well and no one will be without a job after tolls are removed unless he or she actually sought a severance package.

She added, “The others have been successfully redeployed. We are reasonably confident that tolls being removed has not had any adverse impact on the staff.”

There was praise for the key role The Courier played in the campaign to abolish the tolls from Lord Provost John Letford, who chaired the meeting.

Councillor Jim Barrie welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment and enthusiasm for removing the tolls but Mr Letford said, “The Scottish Government was no more enthusiastic than the board or D. C. Thomson who long beforehand set out their position. “Everyone has been singing from the same hymn sheet.”

Mr Letford said he was delighted that the charge was going and he said those who had predicted that toll removal would cause an increase in congestion would shortly find out the truth.

Councillor Rod Wallace hoped there would be a decrease in congestion and an improvement in air quality but he sought an assurance that traffic would still be monitored, fearing that a free crossing might make it more attractive for Dundee people to move out of the city and into Fife.

He said, “I wouldn’t want to see a mass exodus from the city. I’m concerned that we will see further depopulation.”

Bridge manager John Crerar said traffic loops in the approach ramps would continue to provide a total for the number of vehicles crossing but would not be able to produce the same detail about vehicle types that the present analysis of the tolls did.

The board heard in a report that bridge staff have already been informed that their last working day will be February 14 but this date could be brought forward. Letters were sent out to all staff informing them of the position on January 3.

Already, temporary traffic lights and signs have been installed on the approach ramps on the Dundee side in case traffic has to be stopped in the event of an emergency.

These will be replaced by permanent fixtures once the toll plaza has been removed.The £263,000 contract to remove the plaza has already been awarded to Cleveland Bridge (UK).

The board is due to lose annual toll income of around £3.6 million and its net revenue requires to be met by the government.

The government has agreed to provide a one-off capital grant of £14.84 million for 2007-08 to repay outstanding loan debt on the bridge and further grant money to enable the board to meet other financial commitments.

Bridge board treasurer David Dorward said in the report, written jointly with the board’s clerk, engineer and bridge manager, that the funding proposed by the government is “satisfactory in relation to the continued funding of revenue and capital expenditure.”