£3.5 contract awarded for Forth bridge cable probe

AN INVESTIGATION is to be launched into potential corrosion of the Forth Road Bridge's main cable anchorages.

A 3.5 million contract for the work was yesterday awarded by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority, which runs the bridge, to Graham Construction.

This follows ongoing work to dry out the rest of the cable in an attempt to halt corrosion, which has already triggered the building of a new adjacent crossing costing up to 1.6 billion.

The anchorage work is expected to start in August, with 30ft deep excavations at the south end of the bridge taking a year. Inspection work and evaluation of the findings will take a further year.

Chief engineer and bridgemaster Barry Colford said there was no external evidence of any problem, but the work was a "very important investigation into what are critical components of the suspension bridge".

He added: "It is our responsibility to inspect every part of the structure in order to ensure there are no hidden issues."

The anchorages are concrete-filled tunnels bored into the rock on either shore, where the bridge's main suspension cables are attached to the ground.