By Charlene Kelly and Lars Niven

THE DISMANTLING of toll booths on the Forth Road Bridge caused misery for motorists last night who found themselves bumper to bumper during delays of over an hour.

Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson last month signed a document which ordered that the tolls be removed by February 11.

The date was agreed with the Tay and Forth bridge authorities after legislation scrapping the tolls received royal assent.

Motorists were warned by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority to expect delays ahead of the dismantling of the tolls but The Courier received calls from disgruntled travellers last night complaining of traffic being brought to a standstill for excessive periods of time.

When contacted, a FETA spokesman said, “Obviously we expected delays which is why we issued early warnings to commuters about the work going ahead.

“We are not entirely sure of the extent of the delays and do sympathise but it unfortunately cannot be helped while essential work is carried out to remodel the toll plaza to ensure the bridge is toll free.

“What I can say, however is that, although work will continue to be carried out today and again on Sunday, the works will be completed by Monday morning, giving the traffic a clear run through.”

Work started on Wednesday evening to remove three booths and one of the concrete plinths. A Fife Police spokesman said, “We are aware of delays on the Forth Road Bridge.

“However, they are at the Edinburgh end of the bridge, not the Fife end, meaning they fall under the jurisdiction of Lothian Police and so we do not have a police presence there.”

Earlier it was announced that traffic heading for the bridge is to be merged into two lanes before it reaches the crossing in a bid to avoid major snarl-ups at South Queensferry.

FETA insists it is essential the flow of traffic heading on to the bridge is safely controlled and that the northbound carriageway doesn’t become a free-for-all.

That job has been done by staff at the toll plaza, but even then anyone who has crossed the bridge at peak periods will already have had a taste of how chaotic things can get beyond the barriers.

Bridgemaster Alastair Andrew said recently it was “inconceivable” seven lanes could be allowed to merge into two unchecked.

His deputy, Barry Colford, explained the process to The Courier yesterday.

“We’ve got to get rid of the first three booths to allow us to have traffic running in two lanes from the M9 spur/A90 past the toll plaza and on to the bridge,” he said.

“We’ll be doing that between now and Sunday night. That should mean that traffic will have no restriction coming on to the bridge from the A90.

“There will just be two lanes running directly on to the bridge with a single lane merge from Echline.”

Mr Colford said there would also be a bus lane coming from the Echline junction and merging into the single lane on the slip road down to the plaza.

Traffic heading from Edinburgh towards the bridge along the A90 will be funnelled from three lanes into two just before the Echline interchange.

The slip road ramp from the Echline roundabout to the toll plaza will be reduced to a single lane, with vehicles being fed in to the main stream from the A90.

FETA staff will still need some means of controlling the traffic for emergencies or abnormal loads and an overhead gantry with warning lights on it is to be installed.

“Once the toll booths are gone and the canopy is gone it will just be like any other layout where traffic has to merge like this,” Mr Colford added. “There will be an overhead gantry with signals on it.

“They will not be on at any time until we have to stop traffic to either move an abnormal load, divert high-sided vehicles due to the wind, or we have an incident on the bridge.”