Bridge concerns

Your leader (“Was Holyrood too hasty in ordering a new bridge?”, 25 February) erroneously refers to “findings” that corrosion in the main cables of the Forth road bridge may not be as extensive as initially feared.

Although we are confident that our work will prove successful, there are no new findings at this stage and we must wait until this year’s inspection is complete before reaching any conclusions.

Furthermore, halting corrosion does not guarantee that the cables will not lose further strength. Damage already done to the wires inside the cables cannot be repaired and there is no way of telling how many cracks will lead to breaks in future. There will always be some uncertainty and the cables will need to be monitored for the remainder of their service life.

Barry Colford

Chief engineer and Bridgemaster

Forth Road Bridge