THE Forth Road Bridge's chief engineer and bridgemaster comments on the discovery of cracked nuts on bolts which help hold up the structure, and how the bridge authority is coping with its increasing repair burden.
What is the significance of the cracked nuts?This is what we've asked our consulting engineers to investigate. The defective nuts have been taken to the laboratory for tests and a desk study is being carried out to look at all as
pects of the design, manufacture and installation of the nuts and bolts. All of this work will allow us to assess whether any further action is necessary.
How is the bridge authority coping with its increasing repair and maintenance workload?We're lucky to have an extremely dedicated and hard-working team in place. There's plenty of work to do, but the workforce know the bridge better than anyone and take a real pride in ensuring that standards of maintenance and inspection are among the best in the world.
Is the workload creating potential funding problems, since the bridge authority now relies on Scottish Government grants since the abolition of tolls? The bridge authority has to work within an agreed three-year funding settlement. It's always going to be a question of managing priorities. We'll continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to ensure the bridge remains safe and open to traffic.
Will the bridge cost more and more to keep open? Our long-term maintenance plan includes over £111 million of capital projects to renovate and improve the structure over the next 15 years, and these costs could rise if new maintenance issues emerge or projects cost more than estimated.
The full article contains 287 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
