- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many journeys were made by HGVs across the Forth Road Bridge in each of the last three years.
Answer
This information is a matterfor the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) and can be accessed on FETA’swebsite at:
www.feta.gov.uk.
FETA records information fortraffic and revenue purposes on vehicles that cross the bridge, with a singlecategory for all vehicles in excess of 3.5 tonnes. The figures within thiscategory for each of the last three calendar years (northbound only) are shown inthe following table.
| Year | Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes |
| 2004 | 703,824 |
| 2005 | 728,810 |
| 2006 | 716,699 |
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to include a rail crossing, or other public transport provision, with the new Forth road crossing.
Answer
Provision for enhancedpublic transport will be incorporated into the replacement crossing in order tomanage predicted increase in demand for cross Forth travel. However, thecrossing will not include heavy rail since sufficient capacity exists on theexisting Forth Bridge to cater for predicted future demand for railtravel.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimates are of the financial costs per year to (a) Fife, (b) the Lothians and (c) Scotland of closing the Forth Road Bridge to HGVs before a new crossing is complete.
Answer
The estimated cost to the Scottish economy of a ban on HGVs crossing the Forth Road Bridge before a new crossing is completed is estimated to be in the order of £20 million a year at current prices. This represents the cost to Scotland as a whole and comprises the increase in journey time and costs associated with HGV traffic diverting. Although the effects will be distributed across the whole of the Scottish economy, they will impact more acutely in the areas around the current bridgeheads. It is not possible to be more specific at this time.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what contingency plans it has in place to ensure that HGV vehicles are able to cross the Firth of Forth in the event that the current Forth Road Bridge has to close to HGVs before a new crossing is built.
Answer
Detailed planning work isbeing undertaken by officials from Transport Scotland, Scottish Executiveand the Forth Estuary Transport Authority to examine what measures might berequired.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to complete construction of a new road crossing for the Firth of Forth.
Answer
The earliest date forcompletion of a Forth crossing is 2016.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive on what date it expects the Forth Road Bridge to have to close to HGVs.
Answer
It is currently not knownwhen, or if, restrictions to HGVs will be required on the Forth Road Bridge. Thebridge is owned and operated by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority.Transport Scotland is working closely with FETA to ensure that it is aware inadvance of the timing, extent, and impact of any such restrictions should theybe required.
Transport Scotland hasoperational responsibility for this matter and can be contacted for furtherinformation.
