A transport authority has confirmed that traffic queues experienced by motorists on the outskirts of Perth were caused by “patching works” near the Friarton Bridge.
It had been feared that work had begun ahead of schedule on roadworks set to start on the bridge at 8pm on Friday. This will see the northbound carriageway closed off until 5am on Monday.
However, concerns were expressed earlier today when a lane of the southbound carriageway of the bridge was closed off around 1.25pm leading to tailbacks stretching as far back as Kinfauns.
Traffic Scotland reported that these were removed around 30 minutes later.
An irate motorist described the traffic delay as “a farce.”
He said: “I was picking someone up from the airport in Edinburgh and thank goodness I left early because it was absolute gridlock, absolute chaos.
“How can they claim it wouldn’t cause any disruption when there’s miles of tailbacks?
“We were told the work would be starting on Friday evening and assured it wouldn’t cause any disruption – they’ve got both things wrong.”
Roadworks on the #M90 Friarton Bridge have now been lifted ? 13:47⌚️@NETrunkRoads https://t.co/9oTNrx0kBX
— Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) February 23, 2018
A spokesperson for Bear Scotland confirmed the scheduled roadworks will not begin until 8pm and explained the reason behind the earlier traffic delays.
“For safety, a lane was closed on the southbound approach to the bridge to allow adequate spacing for the temporary traffic management advance signage for the patching works,” she said.
“The work site was not on the bridge but just south of Friarton near Craigend, and all road surface patching works have since been completed and traffic management removed at 1.45pm.
“Teams are now preparing for tonight’s bridge maintenance works, set to start from 8pm.”
There have been concerns about a possible repeat of traffic chaos experienced on the weekend of September 3 and 4, 2016. Roadworks on the bridge at that time led to massive tailbacks and a football cup tie being delayed by 10 minutes.
This weekend will see a host of sporting action taking place on the east coast of the country, including the Scotland versus England Calcutta Cup rugby match in Edinburgh on Saturday.
