The Forth Road Bridge was unexpectedly closed on the 4th December 2015 when a 20mm crack was discovered on the North East Main Span End Link.
Millar Callaghan were called to a series of emergency meetings with Amey Highways, Transport Scotland and Scottish Ministers to discuss the possible solutions and available options to carry out emergency repairs to the damaged End Link. Millar Callaghan were directly involved in the discussions to prevent any further progression of the defect on the End Link and to reopen the bridge as soon as possible to minimise any further disruption to the vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists who regularly use the bridge.
Once the strengthening details had been confirmed, Millar Callaghan’s fabrication workshop and site installation team worked 24 hours a day for the next 3 weeks. Strengthening steelwork was fabricated and installed at not only the damaged end link, but also at the other seven end links throughout the bridge to ensure that this type of defect would not be repeated in these areas.
When the temporary repair on the damaged end link was completed, the bridge was load tested and the repairs were monitored. The bridge was then reopened to cars, cyclists and pedestrians on 23rd December 2015 approximately 2 weeks ahead of schedule. The work on the remaining seven End Links continued until 21st February 2016 when the bridge was reopened to HGV’s and high sided vehicles.
The Forth Road Bridge reopening was voted for by the public as the greatest engineering achievement of 2016. Millar Callaghan along with Amey Highways were invited to Westminster to receive the Peoples Choice Award for Engineering from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
