Forth Road Bridge after work each evening

[simoid]

It was like Rainbow Road on MarioKart, I’m reliably informed. I think they’ve toned it down a bit now though...?

[Davie]

simoid said:

It was like Rainbow Road on MarioKart, I’m reliably informed. I think they’ve toned it down a bit now though...?

The stupid / dangerous lights they installed at either end ate eye level on the barriers have been off for a while and that's no bad thing... they did little more than blind you passing them and on glancing in the rear view mirror, could easily be mistaken for headlights. Can't say I noticed any lights last night, suppose that means whatever they have now are no longer distracting you from the road ahead. Still plenty people trundling over a 40mph giving the wagons a headache.

[Lugy]

What's going on with the lights on the side of the bridge? I thought I was imagining things as I drove across last week and the one before that but I saw them when I crossed on the train and they're definitely doing funny things!

[tvrolet]

The ‘chase’ in patterns either side of the bridge. I suppose looking at the bridge it’s meant to look cool, but if they want to make it a spectacle they should just light the towers up (which I see now and again, so the lights are there to do it) and also light the towers on the old Forth Bridge. Having ‘chasing’ light patterns that can be seen by drivers seeems crazy. Might be nice to get some streetlights though, and not the couple of hundred yards of eye-level things at either end. And another evening where northbound is restricted to the hard shoulder only. I wonder when it’s actually going to be finished? But at least the hold-ups morning and evening have been solved. ...oh, wait. No bl00dy difference as far as I can see.

[simoid]

I thnk traffic on the west side of the city is just getting worse and worse these days generally. More new houses in West Lothian/Falkirk = more cars.

Wonder how much power/CO2/money those lights are responsible for.

[emicen]

simoid said:

I thnk traffic on the west side of the city is just getting worse and worse these days generally. More new houses in West Lothian/Falkirk = more cars.

Wonder how much power/CO2/money those lights are responsible for.

2011 to 2012 I was living in Glasgow and commuting to Dunfermline via M8 and FRB.

Now I live at Heartlands and commute in the opposite direction.

The M8 eastbound traffic is an order of magnitude worse than it was 6-7 years ago. It was never great, but it’s a rare day that traffic is free flowing past my junction at Heartlands and often I backed up the whole way to where I get off at Newhouse.

Shocking if that’s all been caused by expansion of homes in Bathgate, Armadale & Whitburn.

[simoid]

emicen said:

2011 to 2012 I was living in Glasgow and commuting to Dunfermline via M8 and FRB.

Now I live at Heartlands and commute in the opposite direction.

The M8 eastbound traffic is an order of magnitude worse than it was 6-7 years ago. It was never great, but it’s a rare day that traffic is free flowing past my junction at Heartlands and often I backed up the whole way to where I get off at Newhouse.

Shocking if that’s all been caused by expansion of homes in Bathgate, Armadale & Whitburn.

All the wee towns in the M8 and M9 corridor are getting bigger and bigger. Except for maybe Linlithgow as the residents there seem to be fairly effective at complaining that the high street is busy enough. And inevitably those folk will need to use the motorways to get to work.

If you’re going from M9-A8 you’ve got to deal with a give way line at a roundabout at Newbridge, along with god knows how many other cars. And likewise if you go from M9-M8 you’ve got to merge with the whole of Livingston. Then Hermiston Gait which can be totally nackered by the bypass or idiotic traffic sequencing or both. All so you can use Edinburgh’s roads which are simply totally useless at allowing any sort of traffic flow due to the number of bus lanes and traffic lights, such as at Calder Road where they’ve built pedestrian crossings over existing tunnels

[simoid]

Almost live view tonight. fking hell!

[Leithen]

They really need to utilise the hard shoulder/third lane at rush hour in the evenings.

On my way back to Strathearn, I invariably come past the queuing traffic in the inside lane and bear off to the M9, rather than crawl towards Fife.

How ridiculous is it to be over capacity already?

[knotweed]

I drove over in the dark for the first time on Monday morning. Those low-level lights at either end are ridiculous. I was driving a van so they were below eye-level thankfully, but even then it wasn't comfortable.

[Composer62]

Leithen said:

They really need to utilise the hard shoulder/third lane at rush hour in the evenings.

On my way back to Strathearn, I invariably come past the queuing traffic in the inside lane and bear off to the M9, rather than crawl towards Fife.

How ridiculous is it to be over capacity already?

Well they've basically replaced one two lane bridge with another two lane bridge. How did anyone think that was going to increase the capacity ?

[emicen]

Composer62 said:

Well they've basically replaced one two lane bridge with another two lane bridge. How did anyone think that was going to increase the capacity ?

They didn’t. The initial proposal was for 3 lanes but the Greens wouldn’t vote for the increased capacity and the SNP needed their vote to get it through.

Essentially, they built something that wasn’t what was needed because they could not be seen to partner in any way, shape or form with the red or blue tories.

[Halmyre]

The problem is mainly to do with fkwits who trundle across the bridge at 40-50mph. That includes you, the tt with the "THE CLOSER YOU GET THE SLOWER I DRIVE" sticker.

[DavieW]

Halmyre said:

The problem is mainly to do with fkwits who trundle across the bridge at 40-50mph. That includes you, the tt with the "THE CLOSER YOU GET THE SLOWER I DRIVE" sticker.

There also seems to be more drivers staying in the outside lane on the new bridge compared to the old one.

[Driver101]

Composer62 said:

Well they've basically replaced one two lane bridge with another two lane bridge. How did anyone think that was going to increase the capacity ?

Doesn't the higher speed limit increase flow and reduce backlogs?

I've not noticed it anywhere near as slow when I use the bridge.

[boardinscotland]

Pretty much live at the bridge. Two reasons I have seen so far for backlogs are:
Sat navs are (or older ones) still showing 40 limit for the old bridge and the gantrys don't shoe actual speed limit. I know pretty benign but with the camera's on the gantrys people were easily confused
The people using the slip roads at the bridge very rarely get up to anywhere near 70mph before joining and the people on the M90 slow down to let them in and when busy builds up almost instantly.
G

[alangla]

emicen said:

Composer62 said:

Well they've basically replaced one two lane bridge with another two lane bridge. How did anyone think that was going to increase the capacity ?

They didn’t. The initial proposal was for 3 lanes but the Greens wouldn’t vote for the increased capacity and the SNP needed their vote to get it through.

Essentially, they built something that wasn’t what was needed because they could not be seen to partner in any way, shape or form with the red or blue tories.

Actually this could be a masterstroke (albeit a bit of cowardice in allowing the greens to set the agenda in the first place) - variable speed limits either side & on the bridge, plus a hard shoulder bus lane on the M90 - any future government, of any colour, could easily introduce part or full time hard shoulder running on the bridge & beyond at minimal cost & brand the whole thing as a smart motorway.

[Peanut Gallery]

alangla said:

Actually this could be a masterstroke (albeit a bit of cowardice in allowing the greens to set the agenda in the first place) - variable speed limits either side & on the bridge, plus a hard shoulder bus lane on the M90 - any future government, of any colour, could easily introduce part or full time hard shoulder running on the bridge & beyond at minimal cost & brand the whole thing as a smart motorway install average speed cameras and bus lane cameras and make a ton of cash.

EFA.

[simoid]

Something needs to be done to reduce traffic volume or get it moving at a greater flow.

Hard shoulder bus lanes that allow cars with passengers would be my trial. Imagine how many folk would lift share if you could get basically your own private lane past the queues?

[tvrolet]

simoid said:

Something needs to be done to reduce traffic volume or get it moving at a greater flow.

Hard shoulder bus lanes that allow cars with passengers would be my trial. Imagine how many folk would lift share if you could get basically your own private lane past the queues?

Yea...but busses already take the old (and much nicer) bridge! Why would you want to pull them off that and add them to the traffic on the new vanity project?

I was certainly wrong with my 'in 12 months' prediction 3 years ago, but it has to be just a matter of time before they properly spread the load between the 2 bridges....doesn't it? Oh wait - they're politicians, and still too concerned with back-slapping that the bridge came in on budget - albeit 2 lanes short, using Chinese steel, lacking full street lighting and it's still not really finished judging by the overnight lane closures.

tvrolet in 2015 on this very thread said:

I take it folks are aware that this 2-lane bridge that acts as a total bottleneck is being replaced with.....



another 2 lane bridge.



The existing bridge will be closed to all but buses. So at rush hour when you're crawling along, just think how much different it would be if all the buses were removed from the queue. Oh wait, precisely sod-all difference. I get the feeling that there's an agenda here with the 40mph limit and intrusive roadworks that they're getting folks familiar with hold-ups, and so when the open the new 2-lane bridge they can go back to 50mph and announce how much better the traffic is flowing.

In fairness the new bridge is 2 lanes each way plus a hard shoulder. If I was taking bets I'd say within 12 months of opening they'll have to open the hard shoulder or re-open the existing bridge to cars. It would make more sense for the old bridge to handle Edinburgh traffic, and the new bridge to handle traffic to the M8/M9 (with a direct link to the M9, not that crazy detour round the existing loop road)...but that's much too smart for Edinburgh (and Fife) Planners.

It seems utter madness to build a 2-lane bridge to replace an already congested 2-lane bridge. Not as if you can easily widen it. In the grand scheme of things it would have cost peanuts to put in extra capacity on the crossing.