Case for new Forth Road Bridge questioned

Date: 23/2/2010

Further questions are being asked of the need for a new road bridge over the Firth of Forth.

The project has met a number of criticisms and one critic, chairman of the ForthRight Alliance Lawrence Marshall, is today appearing in front of the Scottish Parliament's transport, infrastructure and climate change committee to argue his case.

He believes plans for a new bridge should be shelved and work should instead be carried out to fix the current suspension bridge, which is suffering from corrosion.

"There should be no new bridge - a project which is simply unsustainable both financially and environmentally and which is, moreover, socially unjust," STV claims he said.

The cost of a new bridge could stretch to billions of pounds, while repair work could total less than £122 million, the Scotsman's Bill Jamieson claims he argued.

Currently, corrosion is damaging the wires holding up the bridge, but a process to dry them out has yielded successful results, Mr Jamieson adds.