Commuters face 10 more months of crossing chaos
Ministers accused of ‘cover-up’ over extra work on new bridge
MOTORISTS face months of delays on the SNP’s flagship Queensferry Crossing as ‘snagging’ issues have still to be fixed.
Ministers have been accused of covering up botched engineering work on the £1.35billion bridge after it emerged government officials knew of faults weeks before its opening.
A senior Transport Scotland official yesterday admitted the quango had been aware of the need to close part of the new bridge, despite only informing drivers of an initial week-long closure days ago.
Now, further work could be carried out until September 2018.
Officials have blamed the partial closure of the crossing on ‘workmanship issues’.
Michelle Rennie, director of major transport infrastructure projects, yesterday told MSPs surfacing problems were brought to light in August, just weeks before the bridge was opened. She also warned drivers could face lane closures until September next year, with ‘finishing and snagging’ works to be completed.
The revelations sparked outrage from opposition parties who accused the SNP of either covering up the problems or of ‘gross mismanagement’.
Scottish Labour transport spokesman Neil Bibby said: ‘Transport Scotland have known about these faults for months and chosen to keep that information from the public. Road users found out about carriageway closures at the last minute and officials have confirmed there are more to come.
‘Either the SNP knew about this fault and chose to keep it quiet or they didn’t, which demonstrates yet again their gross mismanagement of major infrastructure projects.’
Miss Rennie yesterday said: ‘Until recently we weren’t aware of what the solution would be for these surfacing works and what sort of
‘Preoccupied with party planning’
impacts that they would have on road users, or indeed what lane closures, if any, would be required.’
She also revealed there are ‘snagging issues’ with the wind shield which has been installed to prevent closures in high winds.
She added: ‘The contract allows for those works up until next September at no additional cost.
‘There was no need to delay opening the bridge for that sort of thing. These are relatively normal.’
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Jamie Greene hit out at the SNP’s decision to spend £1.5million on celebrations for the Queensferry Crossing opening, despite being aware of the need for future works and closures. He said: ‘It is abundantly clear the SNP was more preoccupied with spending taxpayers’ money on party planning than delivering a vital infrastructure development fit for purpose from day one.’
Last night, Transport Scotland insisted that while quango officials were made aware of the problems in August, they did not pass this on to government ministers until earlier this month.
A spokesman said: ‘The issue was identified in late August and expert advice indicated this did not require to delay the opening of the Queensferry Crossing. Ministers were informed about the issue on November 21.’
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf insisted he was not always aware of all the repairs needed on Scotland’s road network, despite the Queensferry Crossing being a flagship project for the government.