Traffic was running on both sides of the bridge this morning (23 May) as the peak time restrictions put in place to allow the huge refurbishment of the crossing, were lifted ahead of schedule.
The bulk of the £6 million project, which is being carried out by Scotland TranServ and Highway Barrier Solutions on behalf of Transport Scotland is now complete.Over the last 10 months teams have undertaken carriageway repairs, and installed tower protection and new vehicle barriers in the verges and central reservation.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “The Erskine Bridge is one of our busiest crossings and the Scottish Government has made this £6m investment in its future to maintain transport links in West Central Scotland.
“It is satisfying to see another transport project being delivered ahead of schedule.”
Scotland TranServ’s Erskine Bridge project manager, Colin Anderson has managed the programme of work throughout.
He said: “We are delighted that this project has been completed ahead of our original schedule. We know that this will mean a lot to the thousands of drivers who use the bridge on a daily basis as part of their commute to work. For them it has been a long 10 months, but we appreciate their patience while this vital safety programme was carried out.
“With a raft of measures including the construction of over 5km of one of the most innovative trunk road barriers in the country, the Erskine Bridge is now one of the safest such crossings in Scotland. This project will deliver long-term safety benefits which we hope local drivers will appreciate for many years to come as they head across the Clyde day after day.”
There are still a number of minor works to complete such as centre line white lining and some smaller safety barrier replacements, both on the north side of the bridge. These will be scheduled for later in the summer and carried out during off peak times such as weekends and through the night in order to keep any further disruption to an absolute minimum. We will continue to keep the local community fully informed on the timings of these minor projects.
Russell Rennie, Scotland TranServ’s contract director, added: “This has been a challenging yet rewarding project and we are delighted with the performance of the contractor, HBS who have taken the task in their stride and executed the works with extreme professionalism. We greatly appreciate the patience that the travelling public have shown while this important safety programme was carried out.
“Across south west Scotland we are playing our part to improve the network and maintain around 2,000 structures such as the Erskine and Kingston Bridges. This is an important time for Scotland and we continue to support the economic growth and development of the country by delivering robust, sustainable trunk road projects that will deliver tangible benefits to our customers, the motoring public for many years to come.”
