A bridge too far

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 21:30

MANY readers, I am sure, must be grateful that you gave Lawrence Marshall a "Platform" (18 November) to air his argument against a second Forth road bridge. We are told by the pro-replacement lobby that the problem with the existing bridge is deterioration of the cables. What are we being offered in its place, at a provisional cost of £2.3 billion? Guess what? A "cable-stayed" bridge.

When this point was put to Transport Scotland representatives at a meeting in South Queensferry, they insisted that cable technology had moved on. If that is indeed the case, why can't these splendid, new-technology cables be slowly introduced, over a period of time and without significant disruption to traffic, to replace the existing ones, saving the taxpayer millions of pounds? This is the question that the Scottish Government has so far been unable to answer. There is, of course, a simple answer: if it's broke, fix it.

ALASTAIR CLARK

Linn Mill

South Queensferry