Boring solution is best

Neil Craig's suggestion of using Eliza Jane, the tunnel boring machinery, to tunnel under the Forth (Letters, 9 January) was a breath of common sense.

On a recent visit to Tromso, Norway, I saw a tunnel, under a fjord, constructed to relieve congestion on the bridge linking the two parts of the city, which was proving to be a solution. There was no toll, and at least some finance had come from an increase in the local price of petrol.

Because of extreme wind, both the Forth and Tay road bridges were closed to traffic on Wednesday: with a tunnel there would be an option for travel, and if a tunnel were flooded, the bridge would be an alternative.

As a naive, ordinary Scot, I would find it interesting to see a direct comparison of costs for the construction of a bridge and a tunnel. Why cannot we use what appears to be a successful piece of equipment such as Eliza Jane to improve our road system?

ANN LYLE

Whitehouse Road

Edinburgh

High winds close the bridge again. It just shows what it will be like if they build another bridge instead of a tunnel.

Can the government not see that the quango which should be under its control has squandered money right, left and centre on improperly designed schemes and has apparently no foresight?

Information so far released about the new bridge gives no-one confidence that it will meet the requirements of today's traffic, never mind the future.

ROY ALDER

Harbour Place

Kirkcaldy, Fife

If any more persuasion were needed in support of a Forth tunnel, surely the recent high winds and lengthy traffic jams would justify reconsideration of the recent preference for yet another Forth road bridge.

MARGARET CAMPBELL

Dovecot Loan

Edinburgh

Neil Craig (Letters, 9 January) wonders why Eliza Jane can not be deployed in cutting a tunnel under the Forth at a fraction of the 4.2 billion projected spending for a new Forth road bridge.

In theory he is right in thinking that a tunnel would be more practical than shuffling paper until 2012 and then starting to build a bridge. However, he forgets that even with a tunnel there will still be the cost of shuffling mountains of paper about while the underlying costs increase and contractors increase their charges.

Just look at the projected cost of 2 million for removing the tolls on the present road bridge, when in the real world the cost would be about 100 for seven pieces of rope to secure the toll barriers in the open position.

SANDY GEMMILL

Mertoun Place

Edinburgh