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A MOTORWAY junction being revamped as part of the new Forth crossing is to open ahead of schedule.
The new £25.6 million M9 Junction 1a will be up and running on February 1, improving links with West Lothian and north Edinburgh.
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/junction-to-open-early-1-2734339
Transport minister Keith Brown said: “It should encourage drivers who use local roads to avoid congestion to use the improved junction and, in turn, relieve communities of the strategic traffic they regularly have to endure.
read
Transport minister Keith Brown said: “It should encourage drivers.
What is strategic traffic?
improving links with West Lothian and north Edinburgh.
But only for drivers. If you do not have a car it is yet another barrier.
"What is strategic traffic?"
A collection of vehicles that have to (for whatever reason) drive further than could be described as 'local'. 2, 5, 10, 20 miles??
When they improved the road north of Inverness, 'local' apparently increased to about 100 miles as more people went for a bit of shopping or a visit to the cinema!
"But only for drivers. If you do not have a car it is yet another barrier."
Sadly true.
Will make my life a whole lot easier on either of my short cycle commutes.
A90 into Barnton should become a lot easier most of the time.
Airport P&R will become usable again as not so many cars should be using the Kirkliston rat run, can take >30mins to get to Airport through Kirkliston from the Bridge.
In this case, it's not another barrier as there is not really any new road.
I wonder how much Newton/A904 traffic will actually divert along this route, given that it's quite a few miles shorter to go via Newton?
Presumably the M9 <> M90 official signposted route will be changed to use this new junction as of 1 Feb.
I'm sorry, but the cynic in me can't see how this will improve traffic anywhere. The same number of vehicles will still be trying to get to the same destinations. The same queues will exist in the same old places, so traffic avoiding the M9 queues will still head through Kirkliston, etc. Locals will still avoid the M9 spur, I know - I'm one of them
Kirkliston road was closed at the bridge over A90 last week, for about 7 weeks I think. I passed by there and the huge earthworks going on for the additional Foth bridge on Tuesday.
Luckily there are nice quiet side roads you can cycle on to get to places like Winchburgh, Broxburn, etc. from Queensferry.
Opens on Friday.
Nice Loch Gelly / Cowdenbeath slant in the first para.
"Transport Minister Keith Brown will visit the site at Kirkliston to inspect progress and officially open the new junction."
There was a time when such an event would have been 'protested' at, but I don't think Mr. Brown would take much notice!
But The Motorist is The Engine Of Economic Growth and must be offered every convenience at any cost, don't you know?
I thought George Osbourne said that HS2 was the engine of economic growth? Perhaps any impractically expensive way of moving people around the place is an engine of economic growth? Ahem, tram.
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Radio Forth News (@RadioForthNews)
01/02/2013 06:48
The new M9 junction 1a is opening today - it's part of the new Forth crossing project and will improve traffic for West Lothian & Edinburgh
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(My italics - word "flow" seems to be missing...)
There is good news for bus users as there is now a part time bus lane leading south onto the junction with the A8.
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Transport Scotland (@transcotland)
01/02/2013 10:41
M9 Junction opens early and under budget
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Or in full:
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/news/M9-opens-early-and-under-budget
Perhaps they could use that £20 million underspend to windproof the current bridge so that cyclists can use it when it's blowing a gale.
Ah, but that would be the cycling budget. We can't have motorised transport cash, dontcha know?
KB: "“The entire Forth Replacement Crossing scheme comprises nearly 14 miles of new or upgraded road. It was always more than just a bridge project and I’m delighted we have completed the road upgrades to the north and south of the Forth ahead of schedule so people can start to benefit from this vital project as early as possible."
It was always more than just a bridge project. Aye, it's a big whopping virility symbol, a grandstanding opportunity, a carbuncle, a white elephant, an extravagant waste of money, etc. ad infinitum.
Oh did I mention that the project excludes active travel? Oh we'll get to use the old bridge, which is closed in high winds and allegedly is going to fall down soon. What do you mean it's not going to fall down? Well then why are you building a new one?
I could go on, but I won't.
<extreme pedantry alert>
... the old bridge, which is closed in high winds ...
Are they going to stop it being windy on the new bridge? I mean, do you think that the new bridge will never be closed to high-sided vehicles, buses (theoretical cyclists and pedestrians), etc due to wind?
</end of extreme pedantry>
I never did understand why a cross-Forth tunnel wouldn't work. Some problem to do with exhaust fumes. Do they have that problem in those epic Norwegian or Alpine or Danish tunnels?
Are they going to stop it being windy on the new bridge?
Yes I think so. I can't remember the details but there will be baffles on some kind I think.
I never did understand why a cross-Forth tunnel wouldn't work.
I'm not sure either, they're cheaper to build these days too. Instead of tunnelling they sink concrete tubes and seal them up then pump out the water. There might have been ecological or other issues but my personal opinion, a tunnel hidden from view isn't quite the vanity project that another bridge.
Our local MSP suggested a tunnel. I'm not sure what the geology is like to excavating a tunnel. In any case modern sub aqua tunnels are made from precast concertite and just laid in a trench excavated out of the seabed. I would have though constructing one would have been easy? They could hav allowed cyclists to use the escape/service tunnels.
It was looked and quickly discounted. The entrance/exits would be miles away from either bank of the actual river. To put in context the north exit would have to be around Dunfermline. A tunnel would also have a higher environmental inmpact due to the land take for the tunnel entrances, despite its non visual impact. A full engineering, environmental appriasal and socio economic impact assessment was caried out on the tunnel option. A nice to have but not really very practicle.
Are they going to stop it being windy on the new bridge?
There was talk of wind shielding around the main towers of FRB, but its not going to happen
My bugbear is that the fencing on both sides of each ped walkway is woefully short, presumably for aesthetic reasons only
A nordic bridge would have much higher fencing to protect peds and cyclists
The existing bridge remains a vanity project, after all these years
I love the £20m under budget bit. The contract awarded in June 2011 was costed at £25.6m:
And the cost came in at £25.6m. Maths never my strong point, but...
Full wind shielding on the new bridge - apperently this is very good. The new Severn bridge has never been closed due to high winds apparently and has similar shielding. Full wind shielding can't be fitted to the current bridge - wind loading could be too much for the structure to take.
I agree with o_O about the teeny fences on the current bridge - when I cycle across I always try and stay dead centre of the cycle track as I always get the feeling I'm liable to be blown over the fence.
I can't complain that they are making new bridge as 'resilient' as possible.
The real worry is that we will have the situation where its ability to stay open in windy weather will make the bus service to Fife unattractive. From my understanding public transport will only use the old bridge, often closed to high sided vehicles;-)
Of course they may allow buses to go over new bridge when it's windy and ban cars to democratise the crossing(!)
Maybe they should increase the Western rail capacity out to Fife again. Was space beside the racks before the t••••!
The real worry is that we will have the situation where its ability to stay open in windy weather will make the bus service to Fife unattractive.
The Law of Unintended Consequences.
Or, put another way, entirely foreseeable and even deliberate policy when (allegedly to save money) you ban public transport and active travel from the new bridge.
Was space beside the racks before the t••••!
The big limiting factor is signalling capacity across the bridge, rather than track capacity. Of course it's not technologically insurmountable to increase the capacity with something like dynamic signalling and to provide longer, higher-capacity trains (perhaps requiring a spot of Fife circle platform lengthening), it does however seem to lack any sort of ambition on behalf of authorities. The current "solution" of some clapped out 1960s rolling stock pulled by some surplus freight locos adding a couple of extra peak time services is embarrassing at best. The problem has existed for years (it was the same one summer I worked in Dunfermline, which must have been about 2001) and it will exist in another 10 years most likely because nobody bothered to do anything about it and all the money was spent on Keith and Eck's freedombridge.
Looking at the seabed profile of the Firth, you can appreciate why it would be quite some undertaking - as it narrows, it deepens, reaching around 80 metres just upstream of the (rail) bridge. So you either build a much longer tunnel further upstream with significant deviations for road traffic (who we all know hate to deviate anywhere) or you build a shorter tunnel at the narrow point, but it ends up being longer as it needs long approaches to account for how deep it has to run. Anyway, the same Fifers who currently bolt for home whenever a breeze gets up would probably end up doing same whenever there's a spot of rain, fearing it might flood :)
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