Forth bridge closures staggered

The work was set to coincide

Plans to close both the Forth road and rail bridges at the same time this summer have been abandoned.

Meetings between the owners of the two bridges will now see the maintenance programme staggered over two years.

Work on the road bridge will now start in April this year, while the rail bridge will not be closed until the last week of July next year.

Network Rail and the Forth Estuary Transport Authority said they were pleased to have reached a solution.

There had been fears of travel chaos this summer when the two organisations announced plans to carry out extensive work in the same period because of probable better weather and extra hours of daylight.

Ron McAulay, Network Rail's regional director in Scotland, said: "I am pleased that we have all been able to work closely together with open lines of communication so that we can ensure that these essential works are able to take place on the Forth Bridge and Forth Road Bridge while doing our best to ensure that bridge users are inconvenienced as little as possible."