Cost of replacing road bridge cable may reach £122m

REPLACING the main cable on the Forth Road Bridge could cost £122 million and take years to complete, experts said yesterday.

Whatever method is chosen to repair the structure, the disruption would cost the economy hundreds of millions of pounds if a new bridge were not in place by then.

Work is already under way to tackle corrosion in the main cable of the bridge.

Estimates of the costs of remedial work if this does not succeed, along with the likely economic impact if there is no replacement bridge in place, were yesterday made public.

Installing a new main cable, then removing the old cable, would cost 122 million at 2007 prices, said the report by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Feta).

Keeping the existing cables, but installing new ones above them to help share the load would cost 120 million.

A similar remedy, but with the new cables running to the side of the present main cables, would cost 91 million.

The work would take between seven and nine years to complete and the estimates make no provision for inflation or over-optimism.

In each case there would be prolonged lane closures and rush-hour contraflows, with total closure on some nights and weekends.

With a weekday lane closure estimated to cost 650,000 a day in "travel time disbenefit", the disruption would cost between 212 million and 335 million if the new Forth road bridge was not in place by then.

The study also estimates that major maintenance works on the bridge over a prolonged period could "potentially" result in economic output falling by 1 billion and a loss of 3,200 jobs, some of them permanent, if there was no new crossing by then.

Feta's convener, Tony Martin, said: "These new figures reinforce what we already thought – replacing or augmenting the cables without an alternative crossing in place is something to be avoided if at all possible.

"They also demonstrate the huge value of the Forth Road Bridge to Scotland's economy."

He added: "It should be remembered, however, that cable replacement will only be necessary if current work to dry out the cables fails to prevent further deterioration.

"We're optimistic that this will succeed, but we've said all along that there is no guarantee.

"That's why we commissioned this study – it gives us a head start in the worst-case scenario that current work fails."

But he said the Scottish Government had a "firm commitment" to a new crossing.