Bridge bus lane works postponed

Forth Road Bridge officials have cancelled road works

Roadworks to construct a new bus lane at the Forth Road Bridge have been cancelled this weekend following forecasts of gale-force winds.

The roadworks had been due to begin at 1900 GMT on Friday, with northbound traffic restricted to a single lane throughout the weekend.

There will now be no lane restrictions on the bridge and the works have been rescheduled for 11-13 April.

The bus lane will be safer for buses to stop and rejoin the carriageway.

Barry Colford, Feta chief engineer and bridgemaster, said: "The Met Office have expressed a high level of confidence that the Forth Road Bridge will experience gusts of up to 60mph this weekend.

"It's not safe to lay out cones and road signs in such conditions, so we've taken the decision to postpone the works.

"Even if we could have laid out Friday's contraflow, there is a good chance we wouldn't have been able to remove it by Saturday morning.

"This would have resulted in a large amount of needless disruption for southbound traffic."