MSPs have been told it will take time to find a permanent solution to prevent ice from building up on the Queensferry Crossing.
Mark Arndt from the Amey Forth Bridge Operating Company said work was being carried out to discover “permanent viable solutions” to the problem – which resulted in the £1.35 billion crossing being closed to all vehicles for two days: “We are also actively looking for permanent viable solutions to mitigating ice forming in the first place, that will take time through research and development and the like.”
The bridge was shut to traffic after ice that had built up in wintry weather conditions fell from the cables, damaging eight vehicles.
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Transport Secretary Michael Matheson told the committee: “There isn’t an off the shelf solution for bridges that experience this problem. International experience would say that very often they have to look for bespoke methods in order to address this, specific to the bridge and the circumstances they are experiencing.”
He also dismissed claims that there has been a lack of work done on the bridge since last year.
Matheson went on: “I refute any suggestion that little has been done since March last year, that would be a gross misinterpretation of what has been undertaken and the very challenging nature in which the engineers have had to try to pinpoint the nature of where the ice is coming from and also the circumstance in which it occurs, because it only occurs in certain circumstances.”
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There have been quick fix solutions and alternative arrangements put it place on the bridge for safety if it has to be closed again – such as the possibility of coating the cable sheaths on the crossing with a hydrophobic material to repel water or installing heating mechanisms.
However, Labour MSP Colin Smyth said: “That is clearly not what people want to happen, we want to find a solution that will actually stop the bridge requiring closure”
The Transport Secretary added while the closure of the bridge was “unexpected and most unwanted”, engineers had used the period to “better understand the circumstances that give rise to this problem”.
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