New crossing may not open until August
● Bad weather delays postpone opening from May to July or August
The new Queensferry Crossing will not open until between midjuly and the end of August.
The latest delay has been caused by poor weather, Scottish Economy Secretary Keith Brown said.
The bridge across the Forth was due to open last December, but adverse weather had already delayed the completion date to the end of May.
The Queensferry Crossing may open eight months late in August because of weather delays, economy secretary Keith Brown has admitted.
This second postponement, from May, comes after original plans to complete the £1.35 billion project in December were similarly scuppered last June.
Mr Brown told MSPS the Forth road bridge’s replacement is now expected to be finished sometime between midjuly and the end of August.
He told the rural economy and connectivity (REC) committee the planned end of May date was “not now safely achievable”, which was a “huge disappointment”.
Mr Brown said the latest problems included strong winds delaying the dismantling of the tower cranes, and safety must be the top priority.
He said: “The precise opening date will depend on the amount of weather downtime which occurs in the coming weeks, with the latest date being based on weather similar to that which we have seen in February and March if that continues to occur.
He said there was a “very high degree of certainty” over the revised time frame “but it is not absolutely certain”.
Sally Cox, who chairs the Forth Crossing Building Constructors consortium, said there had been a 175 per cent increase in time lost to bad weather in January over what had been allowed for.
However, Mr Brown said the cost of the over-run would be borne by the contractors, with no extra cost to taxpayers. The contractors are also liable to pay penalties if work is incomplete by the contract end in mid-june.
The new delay has come despite extra contingency time being added when the opening was last postponed, and a year of contingency time being built into the original five-year construction schedule.
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Liam Kerr said: “This delay will come as a huge blow to the many commuters who travel across the Forth every day. They have already had to deal with massive disruption over the past two months due to closures on the Forth road bridge.
“The SNP assured us this project would be delivered on time, but these promises have proven to be worthless.
“It is simply unacceptable, and the economy secretary needs to explain what the Scottish Government are going to do to ensure the new timescale is kept to.
“There are also underlying questions about how long Keith Brown has known about this issue. Many contractors had been hinting at delays in the previous few weeks, so if they knew it was going to be delayed, why didn’t the minister?”