The rainy summer weather has hindered a project to fight corrosion in the Forth Road Bridge's main suspension cables. However, the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA), the authority that runs the bridge, says its dehumidification system should still become fully operational late next year as targeted.
A 320m trial
section of the system has been up and running since March this year. Most of the work on the west cable above the roadway has been completed and work is now progressing on the east cable and the sections underneath the bridge. It will then take up to 18 months for the cables to be fully dried out. An inspection will be carried out in 2011 or 2012 to verify the system's effectiveness.
Barry Colford, chief engineer and bridgemaster, says: "As we all know, it's been a particularly wet summer, even by Scottish standards. The whole point of the dehumidification project is to seal the moisture out of the cables, so rain inevitably slows progress."
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